Pokésouls Academy
by KiwiWizard
Summary: Sequel to Pokésouls. An academy has been opened specifically for Pokésouls to teach them to use their powers. This is the story of its first students and the adventures they have at the academy.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, here's the new story! This ones going to be a lot less serious, though it will have its moments. My main reason for this is that I'm starting an intense year of school soon and I may not have a lot of time to write, so I don't want to write something that's going to need a lot of planning.  
**

 **Regarding the timeline, I think it's around 5-10 years after Pokésouls, but some of the character's timelines don't work with this. I hope you're okay with just ignoring that (I am). I thought it was more important for everyone to make the characters they wanted rather than having a sensible timeline. Really it's just that some of the characters have aged more than others.  
**

 **Mira's book excerpts, and some other things, are going to be used to explain past events (to people who didn't read the original) and things that happened to the characters between the two stories. Hopefully it's more fun reading it that way then just me telling you.**

* * *

Prologue: Not my Definition of Ready

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ , by Mira Lee:

 _Foreword:_

 _When I was a kid I never thought I'd live a life interesting enough to write a story about, and really my life should've been boring. Personally, I blame everything on Kai. Sure, Kirtus convinced me to be bait because Wolf got himself kidnapped, but I wouldn't have met either of them if it weren't for Kai. I was living a peaceful life as a relatively unknown dancer, then Kai came into my life and pointed out that my boss was an embezzler. Kai and I were friends ever since. Kai is probably my best friend, but I have, on occasion, dreamed about the peaceful world I'd have lived in if I hadn't met her. Of course then I'd never have met Wolf, so all the trouble was worth it in the end. The point is, I dedicate this book to Kai, because if it weren't for her I'd have lived a rather boring, peaceful life and no one would want to read my book._

* * *

A woman with dark blue hair sat on the floor of a large empty room, a Luxray sleeping at her feet. The woman appeared rather out of it, simply staring at the wall with a vacant expression on her face. The room was quite large and devoid of any furniture. It had clearly been recently cleaned, but this only highlighted the wear and tear on the room. There were two doors in the room, a small door at the back and a large set of double doors on the opposite end. Windows covered most of the walls, though the only light that shone through currently was from the moon and stars.

The double doors opened with a lout creak, startling the woman out of her daze. She tried to jump to her feet, but stumbled part way and tripped over her Luxray. The woman who had entered watched as the blue-haired woman fell over, half on the floor, half on the Luxray.

"You alright there Pecha?" Asked the woman who had just entered.

"Fine," Pecha said, though her voice was muffled through her Luxray's back. Pecha pushed herself up to look at the newcomer. The woman was pretty, with long black hair and there was a slight smile on her face that Pecha knew meant she was extremely amused but didn't want to make Pecha feel bad. A Frosslass circled lazily over the woman's head. "What are you doing here Nami?" Pecha asked. "I thought you were cleaning up the girls' dorm."

"I wanted a break," Nami replied walking over to help Pecha stand up. "Were you sleeping down here?"

"I was planning out the cafeteria, then I got really tired and sat down," Pecha said sheepishly. "Did you see Christopher on your way over here?"

Nami shook her head. "The lights were still on in the boys' dorm though, so I guess he's still there." As if summoned by this statement, a man with scraggly black hair came in followed by a Weavile.

"Hey Christopher," Pecha greeted. Nami echoed the sentiment.

"Wolf and I got most of the furniture set up in the boys' dorm," Christopher said.

"Wolf's here?" Nami asked. "I didn't think he was supposed to get here for a few more days."

Christopher shrugged. "He said a lot but I wasn't listening." He glanced down at his Weavile. "Vieara says that Mira wanted to come early so she and Wolf decided to come on over."

"Is their room ready?" Nami wondered.

"Depends on what your definition of ready is," Pecha replied. "There's no bed, but there are walls and a clean floor."

"That's not my definition of ready," Nami said.

"Sounds fine to me," said a man as he walked into the room followed by a green-haired woman. He had blinding white hair and grinned at everyone as he entered. They were followed by two Pokémon, a Gardevoir and a Sylveon.

"Hello Wolf, Mira," Nami greeted politely.

"We're here!" Wolf announced unnecessarily.

"Are you actually okay with sleeping in an empty room?" Pecha wondered. "I'm sure River has a room you could use at her house in Eterna."

"Do you have sleeping bags at least?" Mira asked, the green-haired woman looking less certain than her white-haired husband. She fiddled nervously with one of the braids that was interspersed with her free hair. At the end of each braid was a small pink ribbon.

"We do have those!" Pecha said. She disappeared through the single door at the back of the room.

"Where does that door go?" Mira wondered.

"Oh, you haven't seen everything yet," Nami remembered. "This room is going to be the cafeteria. There's a room back there that we've made into a kitchen." Nami gestured to the door Pecha had gone through. "The stairs to the upstairs are back there as well and Pecha's going to be living on the second floor of this building. That's where she went."

"She gets a whole floor?" Christopher said. "I just get a tiny room."

"Well, she's the headmistress so she can do what she wants," Nami replied. "I just have a room in the girls' dorm." Nami's room was actually quite a bit larger than Christopher's was, but she didn't see any need to point that out.

"Weren't you homeless before?" Wolf asked. "Isn't having _any_ room better than before?"

"Just because I was homeless I can't have standards?" Christopher demanded.

"Where are we staying?" Mira asked, trying to stop the argument.

"You're staying on the floor above the gym," Nami replied. "I'm staying in the girls' dorm and Christopher is staying in the boys' dorm so that if anything happens there we'll be around."

"They get a floor too?" Christopher groused. "Why don't they just stay in Eterna?"

"I'm here as a guard," Wolf replied. "It'd be a bit hard to guard from over in Eterna."

"We have the guy who was kidnapped. That will help," Christopher said dryly.

Pecha reappeared, two sleeping bags slung over her shoulders. "Here they are!" She dropped them in front of Mira and Wolf.

"Thank you Pecha," Mira said, picking one of them up.

"Hey Pecha, you ready to start this school yet?" Wolf wondered as he picked up the other one.

"Well, the students are coming in a few weeks so I'd better be," Pecha replied.

"It's all come together pretty suddenly," Nami added.

"We didn't have time to get any real teachers either," Pecha said. "Right now I have _Wyvrn_ teaching a class."

"I'm trying to get Blake to come and replace him," Nami added.

"He doesn't want to come?" Mira said.

"He's having trouble getting permission from the Guardian Force," Nami explained. "They're still suspicious because of his time under Razan." This was said with some bitterness.

"Still?" Mira said. "He was blackmailed and it was years ago!"

"Can't Preston do something?" Christopher asked.

"Preston can't play favorites," Wolf replied. "He has to act all impartial and stuff."

"That takes all the fun out of being in charge," Pecha said.

"What are you doing about your research?" Mira wondered. "I'm surprised you left it to come be headmistress here."

"Well the original idea was to run some classes on the weekends," Pecha said. "Then Preston and Starlight got a hold of my plan and all of a sudden I'm out here running a full time academy. So I wasn't really ready to leave my research, but since most the students are Pokésouls I can probably continue it here. I have Kai looking after the lab while I'm gone."

"Kai?" Wolf said with a grin. "Is that a good idea?"

"Well, I may come back to crazy decorations and some odd things done to my computer, but she'll keep it safe. Probably."

"Can we see the rest of the place?" Mira wondered.

"Sure," Pecha said. "It looks better in the daytime, but we can do it now." She nudged her Luxray with her foot and lightning Pokémon yawned as it stood, glaring slightly at her partner. "Let's go!"

"I'm going to bed," Christopher said. "I've seen the place anyway."

"Alright, let's head to the boys' dorm first then," Pecha said. The group walked outside into a dirt clearing. There was a ring of five large buildings and a couple of smaller structures. The buildings were clearly at least several years old and some of them had broken windows. Each of the buildings were two stories tall and were about the same size. There were lights hung on the fronts of the buildings that lit up the clearing and gave the group enough light to see by, though not enough to make out many fine details or anything outside the ring of buildings.

They wandered to a building which had a sign next to it that read, 'Boys' Dorm.' Christopher led the way and everyone walked inside. Christopher immediately ducked into a room on the right that had his name on the door.

"This is the boys' dorm," Pecha said. "Really not much to see here."

They left that building and went into the one next door which had a sign labelled, 'Girls' Dorm.' They walked inside. Instead of being a hallway with rooms, they walked into a large open room with couches, tables and a large TV. At one end of the hallway was a door leading to Nami's room and the other end had a staircase. "This is the Girls' Dorm," Pecha said. "This part's their common area. The rooms are upstairs."

"Seems like an odd set up," Mira mused.

"Well, we're doing what we can. This place used to be a raider base you know."

"It was?" Mira said surprised.

"Yeah, this was their vault."

"Why are you putting your school in a raider base?" Wolf asked.

"Apparently all the raider bases that Zyra takes over belong to her unless the raiders stole it from someone. When we needed a place to put the school she gave us this and I really didn't have a choice. Not unless I wanted to buy a place with my own money. I'm not poor but I'm not _that_ rich. At least all the walls are fixed now. Apparently Zyra and her people don't really care that much about property damage."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," Wolf laughed.

"The boys' dorm was the raiders living area as well so we didn't need to do as many modifications," Nami said.

"Oh, and don't tell the kids this used to be a raider base. It's better they don't know," Pecha said.

"Of course," Mira replied.

The next building they visited was the one with the classrooms. "I honestly don't know what the raiders were doing with this building, but now it's holding our classrooms." The layout was similar to the boys' dorm, but the classrooms had numbers on them instead of names. "The upstairs is free if we end up getting more live-in teachers," Pecha added. "Don't tell Christopher. We told him that it's a very important storage area."

They left that one and went to the last major building. The interior was a large open space. "This is our gym," Pecha said. "I'm not planning to hold any organized sports, but I wanted to have self-defense classes and we can do that here. We'll probably work outside more often, but this will work if it rains."

"You get the upstairs of this building," Nami added. Pecha and Nami led Mira and Wolf to the stairwell. They walked to the second floor and showed them their floor.

"There's really nothing much up here. There's the bathroom. Bedroom over there. Not that there's a bed in it, but well…" Pecha shrugged.

"This looks great, thanks Pecha," Mira said. Pecha knew she was just being polite, but she appreciated it anyway.

"Thank you for coming," Pecha returned. "It's been really hard to get enough people together to put all this together in time. Nature's Guardians and the government can't seem to agree on anything and it's made the whole process unbelievably difficult."

"Oh, don't be surprised if you see Opal and Onyx," Nami added. "Zyra sent them to do some of the rebuilding."

"Personally I think she just wanted them away from her," Pecha said.

"She was being nice," Nami countered.

"If she were being nice she'd have sent someone less weird. Anyway, I'll let you get settled. I need some sleep." Pecha gave them a wave and vanished back down the stairs. Nami nodded to Wolf and Mira and left as well.

"Preston gives me Wyvrn and Zyra gives me Opal and Onyx. It's like they want me to fail," Pecha complained.

"You know that's not true," Nami said. "They both spent a lot of time making the academy happen."

"And making me run it. _I_ wanted to run some weekend classes."

"I know. But this could really help some kids and isn't that worth it?"

Pecha sighed. "Of course it is. Once the kids get here I'm sure I'll feel better. Or worse. One of those."

"Don't worry Pecha. If this goes wrong I'm sure we can just blame Wyvrn."

"Yeah," Pecha laughed. "That's a good plan." Nami went into the girls' dorm and Pecha continued on to the cafeteria.

 _I would like to sit in on Wyvrn's class_ , Zap said. _That should be amusing_.

 _That's one word for it_ , Pecha muttered back. _It's probably not a bad idea for you to sit in though. If he gets too crazy you can bite him or something_.

 _I don't think he'd actually hurt anyone_ , Zap replied. _Gina would never forgive him if he did._

 _True. I'll still be glad when Blake gets here and can take over though_.

Pecha and Zap walked into the cafeteria and through the door in the back. Pecha walked up the stairs to her floor. The room right at the top of the stairs had comfortable chairs and some books as it was to act as the waiting room for her office, which was through a door with her name written on it. She opened the door and passed by her desk to a door at the back. Through here was where her real living area started. She walked past the living area and headed straight for the bedroom. Zap followed, jumping up on the bed and curling up on one side. Pecha changed into her pajamas, then flopped down next to her Luxray drifting to sleep in the comfort of her Pokémon's warmth.

* * *

 _A Few Weeks Later_

 _The Town of Eterna_

A girl sat at a table, waist-long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and shifting in the breeze from the open windows. The establishment was rather quaint, but clearly well-loved by both the patrons and the customers. Blonde bangs covered the girl's left eye, but her right eye was visible and her bright blue gaze was focused on the elderly man sitting across from her. Upon her face rested a pair of frameless, rectangular glasses that actually seemed to imorove her appearance. The old man fit into the establishment with far more success than the girl, as his clothes were a bit drab and worn. The girl's on the other hand were quite fashionable and new looking. She wore a black, scoop neck t-shirt that had a blue bubble pattern covering the lower half. Over this was a turquoise hoodie which she had unzipped at the moment. Her skinny jeans were plain blue and covered by her knee-high brown boots. The boots had a flash of color as the laces were teal in color. Another spot of color in her outfit was the green loop hanging off her belt, attached to which were several Poké Balls.

The girl and the elderly man weren't the only ones at the table, as there was also a Glaceon with them. The ice-type Pokémon was sitting upon the table and would occasionally steal a bite of food from the girl's plate. She clearly was aware of this and didn't seem to mind.

The girl's name was Cassiopeia, usually called Cassie, and she was having dinner with her grandfather in the nicest restaurant in Eterna. It was also pretty much the _only_ restaurant in Eterna, which was a very small town. Cassie was used to far fancier places as she was from the city, but Cassie liked this restaurant, mostly because it was her grandfather's favorite restaurant and seeing him happy made her happy too.

Cassie was going to be leaving for the Pokésoul academy tomorrow and this was sort of a farewell dinner, though the academy was within walking distance from Eterna so Cassie would be able to visit him often. It was part of the reason she was going really.

"I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends at the academy," her grandfather said.

 _Probably not_ , Glaceon said.

 _Studying is more important_ , Cassie agreed. Aloud, she said, "Yeah. There will be a lot of new people there."

Her grandfather sighed slightly, knowing her well enough to understand her true thoughts. "I know you like studying more than people, but please try to make some friends?"

Cassie felt bad, so she agreed. Her grandfather was always wanting her to make friends. Cassie didn't really see the point, but she'd try for him.

"You're going to the academy? Me too!" The voice was male and came from a younger boy. He grinned at her from where he was sitting at a table next to Cassie and her grandfather's.

"Yes," Cassie said finally. She glanced at the boy's dining companion, but wasn't able to make much out. It appeared to be a woman, but she was wearing a cloak that concealed most of her features. The boy apparently wasn't trying to avoid attention judging by the red scarf wrapped around his neck and the bright red t-shirt he wore. He had short black hair, unremarkable except for the single white bang that was on the left side of his face. His eyes were much more interesting as one was a dark green color and the other was much paler. It was as if someone had tried to erase the color but hadn't completely succeeded. Cassie wondered at that, but didn't care enough to try to find out.

His shirt had a large Poké-dollar sign on it which made Cassie want to roll her eyes a bit. At least it wasn't a gold coin. The rest of his outfit was much quieter, simply brown shorts, black sneakers and fingerless black gloves. There was also the tell-tale red and white of Poké Balls on his black leather belt.

"I'm Darn," he said.

Cassie wasn't sure for a moment if she misheard or not. _He said Darn_ , Glaceon assured.

"...Darn?" Cassie said.

"Yep! Short for Daren."

Cassie was a bit relieved his parents hadn't actually named him Darn. Though he seemed happy enough about the nickname, so maybe he wouldn't have minded. "I'm Cassie," Cassie finally said. Really she would have dropped the conversation already, but her grandfather was right there wanting her to have friends, so she figured she could get through the conversation for him.

"Are you a Pokésoul?" Darn wondered.

"Yes, this is Glaceon." Cassie gestured to the ice-type who was sitting on the table and was sneaking bites off of Cassie's plate.

"Cool!" Darn said.

"You're a Ditto Pokésoul?" Cassie asked, gesturing to the pink blob on his shoulder.

"Huh? No that would be neat though! I'd probably be able to transform and stuff. I wonder how that would work." Darn got a thoughtful expression on his face.

"So what's with the Ditto?" Cassie wondered.

"I'm not a Pokésoul but he's still my friend. This is Morph Jr."

Cassie had Pokémon other than Glaceon and was friends with them too, but she didn't generally walk around with them hanging off her. "Are you not a Pokésoul?" Cassie wondered.

This seemed unlikely, why would he be going if he wasn't? He probably had a large Pokémon that had to sit outside. "That's right, I'm not a Pokésoul," Darn said. Or maybe he just really wasn't one.

"So, why are you going to the Pokésoul academy then?" Cassie wondered.

"Pecha's running it!" Darn exclaimed. "She's awesome!"

"...Right." This seemed an odd reason to Cassie, but it wasn't really her business anyway. He could do what he wanted.

"You overcharged here," Cassie heard the woman Darn was with say to their waitress.

"Overcharged?" Darn said clearly offended. "We're not paying extra!"

"Of course we're not," the cloaked woman assured. The two then argued with the waitress and Cassie slowly turned about around to her grandfather.

 _He seems to love money_ , Glaceon said.

 _It looks like it_ , Cassie agreed.

"He seems like a nice boy," her grandfather said.

"Yeah," Cassie said, not because she really thought that but because she wanted to make her grandfather happy. Personally, she found him rather annoying.

The bill came and Cassie quickly handed the waitress some of her money before her grandfather could pay. He gave her an annoyed expression and she smiled at him. He needed his money for medicine, not wasting it on her. Her work at the bakery gave her enough money to buy food, so he didn't need to use his. Of course she'd had to take a break from the bakery to go to the academy, but she wouldn't have to pay for food there either so it about evened out. And if she really needed money she'd be able to find somewhere to work at in Eterna, maybe even another bakery.

Cassie and her grandfather stood and walked out of the restaurant. Cassie would be staying here for the night, then heading to the school the next day. It was a few days early, but the academy had asked everyone to get there early to get settled.

Cassie and her grandfather walked back to his house and she immediately insisted that he go to bed. "I can stay up later," he said. "I may not see you for a while."

"Go to bed Grandpa," Cassie replied. "It isn't good for you to stay up late. Besides, the academy's only a few minutes away really." It was more than a few minutes, but Cassie didn't mind a walk. And on the back of her Tropius it really wasn't a big deal to travel between places at all.

"Alright," he relented. "Goodnight Cassie. Wake me before you leave." Cassie nodded, but she probably wouldn't. His health was more important than saying goodbye and he needed his rest. She began straightening up his house and making sure that she had everything she needed for school. Once she was satisfied, she went in the guestroom to sleep for the rest of the night. Glaceon curled up next to her, the Pokémon's cold body a comfort despite the chill. Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow she'd go to the academy. That's where the real adventure would start.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well, here's the new story. I hope you like the beginning and thanks so much for all the characters!**

* * *

 **Character Credits:**

 **Cassiopeia - Amy47101**

 **Daren - StattStatt**

* * *

 **Here are the credits for the characters from the original Pokésouls.**

 **Protagonists:**

 **Pecha's my character**

 **Nami and Blake Salem - PokeFreak45**

 **Christopher Xanatos - negimafanman**

 **Wolf Winters - W. R. Winters**

 **Mira - misoriri**

 **River - Dragon2920**

 **Zyra - Mweep**

 **Kai Akiyama - imafangirlforever**

 **Kirtus - PoisonBanana**

 **Preston and Scarlet - WereDragon EX**

 **Eclipse and Starlight - Amy47101**

 **Liliana - LadyLucina28**

 **Christina - Ilypikachu**

 **Yunyi - HakaiElementalVocaloid**

 **Lucinda and Volke - StattStatt**

 **Sky - PokeSpeBanette**

 **Nevin - LinkMaster997**

 **Gina - EllieXDreams**

 **Wyvrn - LightvsDark99**

 **Antagonists:**

 **Erika - imafangirlforever**

 **Alex - UnfitDinosaur**

 **Xero - PokeFreak45**

 **Altair-Millenium - Amy47101**


	2. Triple M

**Author's Note:**

 **welcome back everyone! Thanks for all the nice reviews :) Here's the new chapter, I'm going to be throwing a lot of characters at you all at once, so sorry for that, but there's really no way around it with this premise. The chapter titles are going to be quotes from the story.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Triple M

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ , by Mira Lee

 _I should get to the part of my life everyone's actually interested in. The Razan incident. Wolf and I ended up prisoners of Nature's Guardians back when it was under Razan so we missed a lot of what happened. I saw Razan first-hand though, saw how he wanted something good - protection for the people of the Outerlands - but became so twisted that he bombed the eastern power plant of Lumiose. He used his powers as a psychic Pokésoul to brainwash the very people he was trying to help and he threatened innocent people to get them out of the way. He was a horrifying man, but part of me feels sorry for him. He wasn't always bad, though I guess no one ever really starts out evil. Anyway, everyone knows what happened in the wake of those events, Nature's Guardians was taken over by the Guardian Force to become a protective agency for the Outerlands. Zyra was put in charge and she's still running it now, quite effectively too. There's obviously tension from the city who feel the Outerlands weren't punished harshly enough, and then there are the people in the Outerlands who are angry that anyone was arrested at all. So far things have remained stable, I just hope they stay that way. Razan was brought down by a group of city dwellers and Outerlanders working together, I hope people look to that as proof that we can do great things together._

* * *

Cassie's grandfather actually did wake before Cassie left, so she ended up leaving a bit later than planned. The academy wasn't far though. It was probably about an hour's walk, but by Tropius it was more like ten minutes. Her Tropius touched down a bit before lunchtime and Cassie returned the Pokémon. She had landed just outside the ring of buildings and walked towards them, looking around curiously. Everything in between the buildings was just dirt, but outside the ring was grass and even a pond big enough to swim in. The beginnings of Eterna forest was right on the edge of the academy as well, so there were a lot of trees around the northern end.

Cassie walked into the clearing and found two people standing there talking. One was a woman with short dark blue hair who was leaning on a Luxray. She was speaking with the other person, an elegant looking woman with long black hair around whom a Frosslass floated.

"Hello," Cassie said.

"Ack!" The blue-haired woman said, spinning around and stumbling as her hand fell off her Luxray.

"Hello there," the black-haired woman greeted. She had been facing Cassie and must've seen her walking towards them.

"I didn't see you there," the blue-haired woman said sheepishly.

"I'm Cassiopeia," Cassie said.

"Pecha Woods, headmistress," the blue-haired woman said. "This is Nami Salem, the science teacher."

"Am I the first one here?" Cassie wondered.

"Yep," Pecha confirmed. "Everyone should arrive in the next couple days though. And welcome to the academy! Thanks for coming!"

"I can show you your room if you'd like to drop your things off," Nami offered.

"That would be nice, thanks," Cassie replied.

Nami nodded at Pecha, who nodded back, then Nami led Cassie towards one of the buildings. All the buildings were about the same size and were similarly colored, which was a bit confusing. The building looked rather rundown up close and some of the windows were even broken.

"This place looks a bit... Broken," Cassie commented.

"We didn't have a lot of time to prepare," Nami said apologetically. "We're still fixing it up."

"You didn't finish before taking students?" Cassie asked skeptically.

Nami shrugged. "The government wanted us to open at the beginning of this school year so we only had a couple months to prepare. The windows will get fixed this week."

Nami opened the door and led Cassie into the building. "This is the girl's dorm," Nami explained. The interior was thankfully in better shape than the outside and the furniture appeared quite nice. The first thing in the building was a very large common area with several couches and chairs along with a TV, a computer, a stereo and some gaming consoles. Nami walked past all of this and led Cassie up the stairs.

"All the rooms are up here," Nami said. "I will sleep downstairs and if you ever need anything you can come and speak to me."

Cassie nodded absently. She wouldn't need anything; she and Glaceon could handle everything on their own. Nami led her down the hallway and stopped at one of the doors. It had two signs taped to it, one reading Cassiopeia, the other reading Cerise.

"Cerise is going to be your roommate," Nami explained. "If you don't get along talk to me and we'll try to work something out."

"I'll be fine," Cassie assured.

"Do you need anything else?" Nami wondered. Cassie got the feeling that her general silence was making the teacher uncomfortable.

"No thanks," Cassie replied.

"Just ask if you need anything," Nami said. She lingered for a few more moments then left.

Cassie dropped her heavy bag down onto the bed further from the door. She began unpacking her clothes and hanging them in the closet. Glaceon jumped up on the bed, curled up and watched Cassie unpack.

Cassie had almost finished hanging up her clothes when she heard the door to the downstairs open again.

"This is where all the rooms are," Nami was saying. Vaguely curious, Cassie poked her head out. Nami was leading another girl down the hallway and stopped outside Cassie's room, but was gesturing to the door across the hall.

The door Nami stopped in front of also had two signs, one reading 'Marianne,' the other reading, 'Marian.'

The girl with Nami was fairly tall with bright, short ginger hair that was longer in the front than the back. The ribbon threaded through it was a brilliant green color that matched the color of the collared shirt and pencil skirt she wore. Around her neck was wound a beautiful silver scarf. She was nodding at Nami's explanation, a small silver necklace jingling as her head bobbed. At her side was a Roserade.

Nami's Frosslass glanced at Cassie and Nami's head turned in response. "Cassiopeia, this is Marianne," Nami said.

"Marie," Marianne corrected. "This is Barrett." She gestured towards her Roserade who gave Cassie a sweeping bow in greeting.

"Cassie," Cassie replied.

"We're the only two here?" Marie asked.

"So far," Nami replied.

"Hey Pecha!" The shout carried through the broken window in the hallway and all three girls startled at the loud noise.

"Sounds like someone else just got here," Marie said.

They all walked down the hall to the window and peered out. Pecha was talking with a young boy who was making animated hand gestures as he spoke with her. Cassie couldn't make out much detail from that far away, but the black hair and red scarf was enough to identify him as Darn from the day before.

"I'd better see if he needs my help," Nami said. "If you need anything I'll either be outside or downstairs." With that Nami left Marie and Cassie alone in the hallway.

"So why are you here?" Marie asked.

"To learn," Cassie said.

"Illuminating," Marie muttered.

"Why are you here?" Cassie asked, more out of politeness than actual curiosity.

"My parents made me," Marie said. Cassie watched for a few more moments as Darn talked excitedly to Pecha, but the conversation was too quiet to make out from that far away. Then she turned and went back to her room to finish unpacking. A few moments later and she heard the footsteps of Marie walking back to her own room.

Cassie was just putting her books away when the door to the downstairs opened again.

"Cassie, Marie we have food in the cafeteria if you're hungry," Nami's quiet voice said.

"Thank you," Marie said. Cassie put down her books and went out to join the two. Glaceon jumped off the bed and joined.

Nami led them out of the dorm and outside. They walked to a different building and went inside. It was a large empty room with several tables and chairs set up around. One of the tables had food set out on it and a green-haired woman was walking in and out of a door at the back which Cassie assumed led to the kitchen.

"This is open at all hours," Nami said. "We're planning to have three meals a day, but you can come in at any time and get something yourself. We don't have an actual chef, so we are going to have you all helping out in the kitchen. Not for the first week though. When you're finished with your food please leave your dishes over there." Nami pointed to a table with a bin on it with the words, 'Dirty a Dishes' written on it.

Pecha was sitting at a table with Darn who was gesticulating wildly as he spoke. The woman was nodding along and Cassie wondered if she actually cared what the annoying boy had to say.

Another boy was in the cafeteria, though he wasn't sitting at the same table as Pecha and Darn. This boy as a lot older, older than Cassie even. His hair was black like Darn's, though it was spiked instead of straight. He wore a dark red shirt, jeans and black sneakers.

"Please help yourselves to the food," Nami said. "And sit wherever you like." Nami walked back outside as Cassie went to grab a plate. She looked at the food. It was fairly plain, but it looked edible enough. She filled her plate and took a seat at one of the unoccupied tables.

Marie got food as well, but she joined Pecha and Darn.

* * *

Marie pushed the excitement down. She had to play it cool. Just be normal. Be normal. _You're fine_ , Barrett assured. Marie sat next to the boy with the red scarf and Barrett took the seat next to her. He then began talking to Pecha's Luxray, Zap.

"Hi Marie," Pecha greeted. "This is Darn." She gestured at the boy.

"Darn?" Marie repeated. That sounded wrong.

"My full name's Daren. Darn for short," Darn explained.

"Interesting nickname," Marie mused. She noted his left eye and wondered at why it was so pale. "What's wrong with your eye?" Marie asked. Maybe it was rude, but she found the best way to get information was often the bluntest. Fortunately, Darn was apparently not offended and just continued to grin.

"I've been blind in my left eye from birth," Darn said with a shrug. Marie nodded in acknowledgement, carefully filing the information away in case it proved useful later.

"Thank you both for coming to the school," Pecha said. "I hope it turns out alright."

"Don't worry! It'll be great!" Darn assured.

"You're in charge," Marie said. "Of course it will go well."

"Thanks for the confidence," Pecha said, smiling a bit self-consciously. "I'll try to live up to it."

"Who is that?" Marie asked curiously. She pointed at the boy in the corner with the Braviary.

"That's Hunter," Pecha replied. "He got here a bit after you." Marie nodded and took another bite of her rather bland food. She must've made some sort of face because Pecha commented. "Sorry the food's not great. We drew straws and Christopher won. On second thought we should've left him out of it."

"It's fine," Marie assured, though really the food was quite bad.

"You know Kirtus right?" Pecha asked.

"Yep," Marie replied a slight smile appearing on her face as she thought of her sleepy mentor.

"He said that you're very smart," Pecha said. "It's great to have you here."

Marie grinned, embarrassed and tried to shake it off. _Pecha complimented me_!

 _I heard_ , Barrett said in amusement.

"Are any of the other heroes here?" Marie wondered. "Other than you, Nami and Christopher?"

"Well, I think we were more just in the right place at the right time rather than heroes, but yeah some of the others are here too. Only Wolf, Mira, Nami, Christopher and myself are actually living here though. The others are in Eterna. River, Wyvrn, Gina and Volke are out there. Volke's not teaching though, he's just here to be with River."

"Wow," Darn said, his eyes wide. "We're learning from all of them?"

"Most of them yeah," Pecha replied.

"Uh, I hate to bring this up, but isn't Wyvrn kind of... Uh," Marie said.

"Yeah," Pecha agreed. "Unfortunately there isn't anyone else to teach English. We started building this thing a few months ago so I didn't have any time to actually hire real teachers. Really, I'd even prefer Volke, but when I asked him he just stared at me." Pecha shrugged. "Wyvrn's gotten better though so maybe it won't be that bad." Pecha was clearly trying to convince herself.

Marie nodded doubtfully. From what she'd heard of Wyvrn in the stories, he'd always come off as a bit...unhinged and violent. Still, he was a member of the Guardian Force and he helped them save the cities from Razan, so he couldn't be that bad.

* * *

After the somewhat unsatisfying meal, Marie returned to her room to find the door open. She hadn't left it this way so Marie entered cautiously. There was a brown-haired girl inside looking around the room. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail on the left side of her head, though her hair wasn't quite long enough for it, so some still fell around her neck. She was wearing travel-worn clothes and he brown boots were covered in scuff marks. Her t-shirt was plain green and her shorts were dark brown.

"You're Marian?" Marie asked. The girl turned and looked at Marie with light blue eyes.

"That's me, this is Clef," the girl replied. She pointed to a Clefairy that sat on the girl's bed "So that makes you Marianne? Do you think they put us in the same room because our names are similar?"

"I don't know."

"It's funny isn't it?" Marie didn't really think so. Plus it was likely based on her attire that the girl was from the Outerlands. No one in the city had boots that worn out. "I go by Ri though, so you can call me that."

"I'm Marie," Marie said. "You're from the Outerlands aren't you." It came out as an accusations, which... was basically how she meant it.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Ri asked, her voice remaining friendly.

"I don't like the Outerlands," Marie replied.

"Funny you're going to school here then," Ri replied.

"My parents made me."

"Really? I wanted to come and my parents supported that. There's so much to learn about being Pokésouls, you know? About how we can use their abilities, and they can use ours..." Ri continued on and Marie tuned her out.

 _I thought I made it clear I didn't want to talk_ , Marie grumbled. Barrett was sitting in the sun on the window sill but woke slightly at their complaint.

 _You said you disliked the Outerlands, not her, so maybe she misunderstood_ , he offered. Marie just scoffed a bit and went back to putting her things away. Ri continued talking the whole time, like a buzzing insect that just won't _go away_.

As far as Marie could tell, Ri only had one bag and she wasn't unpacking it at all. Probably because it would have distracted her from her talking.

Marie finally finished unpacking her things and sat down on her bed. Ri was _still_ talking and Marie wondered at how the girl could possibly blather that much.

"Then the aliens said thank you so much for your hospitality, we've had a very pleasant stay and we'll come back and visit sometime," Ri said, clearly at the end of a story. Marie blinked in surprise at the subject matter.

"Were you just telling a story about aliens?" Marie asked. She wondered when Ri had switched from Pokésouls to complete nonsense.

"Huh? Was I?" Ri wondered.

"You don't know what you were talking about?"

"Well, I didn't think you were listening so it didn't matter," Ri replied.

"If you thought I wasn't listening why were you talking?!" Marie demanded.

Ri gave her an innocent smile that Marie didn't believe for a second. "It's a lot quieter in the Outerlands than the city and I didn't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I'm plenty comfortable with silence."

Ri nodded, but she started up her commentary again a few minutes later. Marie buried her face in a pillow. She could still hear Ri talking.

* * *

A young girl crept up the stairs of the girls' dorm, trying to make as little noise as possible. A Lampent floated by her supportively. _Don't worry Cerise_ , he said. _I'm sure the people here will be friendly_. Her lavender hair was tied into small pigtails and her visible eye scanned the area. It was an odd golden color and the other couldn't be seen due to the white eyepatch covering it.

She wore a dark purple t-shirt, covered with a lighter purple dress with a large black belt around the middle. Her scarf was also black and had a hood which she had pulled up and hid most of her hair. On her feet were dark grey boots and long socks that came up over her knees, one black, the other white and black striped.

Cerise gave her partner a shaky smile as she reached the top of the stairs. _Is there anyone there?_ She wondered. Lampent floated into the hallway.

 _Looks empty_ , he replied. This gave her enough courage to finally leave the stairwell and walk into the hallway. The stairs were at one end of the hall so she started towards the other end, checking the doors as she passed. Lampent floated ahead of her.

 _Here's our room_ , Lampent said. It was the one all the way at the other end so Cerise decided to just run the rest of the way.

 _We're in this one_ , Lampent said. Cerise looked at the door and read her name on it. The other name was Cassiopeia.

 _I hope she's nice_ , Cerise said.

 _One way to find out_ , Lampent said encouragingly. Cerise nodded and opened the door. There were two desks inside and two beds. The bed closest to the window had a bag laying on it and a girl with long blonde hair was seated at one of the desks working on something. She glanced towards the door when it opened, then went back to her work.

"You're Cerise?" the girl asked.

Cerise nodded, then realized that the girl wasn't looking at her and wouldn't have seen the gesture. "Um y-yes! I'm Cerise," Cerise finally stuttered out.

"I'm Cassie. That's Glaceon," Cassie said gesturing towards the ice-type lying on Cassie's bed.

Cerise put her stuff down on the empty bed and began putting her things away. She quickly finished - she hadn't brought all that much - and sat down on her bed. She pulled off her boots and placed them at the side. Cassie hadn't said anything else and still had her eyes firmly fixed on her book. Her silence was actually freaking Cerise out a bit.

 _School hasn't started, why is she studying_? Cerise wondered.

 _Overachiever_? Lampent guessed.

Cerise shrugged and grabbed a book of her own. Her father had bought her a series of fantasy books before she left and now seemed like a good time to start one.

She was just getting into it, (the heroine had just found that she had magic powers!) when the door to their room slammed open.

A girl walked in yelling, "Hello!"

Cerise dropped her book in shock and froze up.

Cassie turned in irritation. "Who are you?" She demanded.

"I'm the Great Marisa!" The girl announced. She tipped her black witch's hat at them, the white ribbon wrapped around it fluttering at the motion. Her hair was extremely pale blond and looked white in contrast to the black hat. It fell all the way to the middle of her back, except for the shoulder length braid on the left side of her face. Her braid was tied off with a bright green ribbon. The girl's eyes were deep blue in color and were curiously looking around the room.

The girl, or the Great Marisa apparently, wore a white blouse with a black sleeveless dress over the top and white pantyhose. Her boots were black and had a very slight heel to them, one that looked like it wouldn't impair her movement much at all. The strangest thing in her ensemble was the broom she was carrying.

 _Maybe she was cleaning_? Lampent suggested. Cerise looked to the book she'd dropped and the stereotypical drawing of a witch on it.

 _She looks kind of like that_ , Cerise said, sending the image to Lampent with her mind.

 _Huh_ , Lampent said. _I wonder if she can fly on the broom_.

"The Great Marisa?" Cassie repeated, clearly unimpressed.

"You can call me Mari," the girl said.

"Whatever," Cassie replied, turning back to her book.

"You're not going to tell me your name?" Mari asked. Cassie ignored this.

"T-that's Cassie," Cerise finally said. "I'm Cerise."

"Nice to meet you!" Mari replied. Cerise nodded. The girl seemed very friendly, but she was a bit too loud for Cerise's comfort.

"I just got here and my roommate isn't here yet." Mari pouted at this.

"The people across the hall are in. Go bother them," Cassie ordered.

"Oh! I haven't met them yet!" Mari waved at Cerise and walked across the hall. Cerise hadn't met them either and made a quick decision to follow Mari. It would be much less intimidating to meet them with someone else as a buffer. Cerise noticed as she walked after Mari that she was holding a book.

 _Did she have that earlier_? Cerise wondered.

 _I didn't notice_ , Lampent replied.

Mari flung the door to the next room open just like she had with Cerise and Cassie's. "Hello!" Mari yelled.

The two girls in the room were clearly surprised. The ginger haired girl was staring at Mari in clear confusion and a bit of disdain while the other girl looked to have gotten in a defensive position.

"...Hello?" The ginger haired one finally said.

"I'm Mari and I'm in the room next door to yours," Mari said. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Mari?" The brown-haired girl laughed. "You're Mari, that's Marie and I'm Ri. This is a bit ridiculous."

"Really? You're Ri and Marie?" Mari laughed.

"Short for Marian and Marianne," Ri replied, gesturing first to herself then to Marie.

"Mine's short for Marisa," Mari said. "Hey, we can be the three M's! Or Triple M! Three Mari?"

"I'm not joining any club you two are a part of," Marie grumbled.

Ri cocked her head to the side and looked past Mari at Cerise. "Who's that?" Ri asked.

"Huh?" Mari looked backwards in confusion. "Oh! This is Cerise. I didn't realize you'd followed me."

"Sorry," Cerise said, though the girl's comment hadn't sounded like an accusation.

"I don't mind," Mari laughed. "You're so quiet! I could never sneak up on someone like that!"

"That's Clef and Barrett by the way," Ri said pointing to her Clefairy and Marie's Roserade.

"My partner's a Magneton. Her name's Spark," Mari replied. "She's hanging out in my room."

"This is Lampent," Cerise said, gesturing to her ghost Pokémon who was floating partway through the wall.

"Spark's calling me," Mari said her face tilting to the side. "She wants me to get the food out. Nice meeting you guys! I'll see you later!"

"Bye!" Ri called out.

Cerise backed out of the doorway and slunk back to her own room where Cassie was still at the desk working. Cerise sighed and picked her book back up, flipping through and looking for her page. The people seemed nice so far, if a bit odd, maybe this would turn out alright.

* * *

Darn went back to the boys' dorm with Hunter, though the other boy didn't say much. When they got back to the dorm Hunter went to his room while Darn headed for the stairs. There were two rooms on the bottom floor (three if you count Christopher's) and four more on the upper floor. There was a common area on the second floor as well, though Darn hadn't had much of a chance to check that out yet.

Darn reached the top of the stairs to find a boy about his age standing in front of his door. His hair was fluffy and wheat blond and his bangs were tied up so they rested on top of his head. He held a Shuckle in his arms.

He was wearing a bright yellow shirt that had a collar so large it actually obscured half of the boy's face. The rest of his outfit was a pair of khakis and red bracelets. Bandages were wrapped around his knees and Darn wondered if he was injured. "Hi there," Darn said.

The boy turned his head and his amber eyes settled on Darn.

"Hi," the boy said. "I'm Hibi. Hibi Corrison."

"Oh, you're my roommate!" Darn said excitedly. "I'm Darn! Well, Daren." His full first name was listed on the door. "I prefer Darn though."

"Then I guess it's, _darn_ good to meet you," Hibi said.

Darn laughed and replied, "Nice to meet you too."

"This is Calquate," Hibi said, lifting the Shuckle slightly.

"Have you been in the room yet?" Darn asked.

Hibi shook his head. "I just got here."

"It's pretty nice," Darn said pushing past Hibi to open the door. The two entered the room. It wasn't overly large, but it was more than big enough for the beds, desks and chairs it contained. It also had its own bathroom, something the girls' dorm room lacked (not that either knew this at the moment).

"See?" Darn said. "I already claimed this bed." Darn said sitting on the one he'd left his stuff on when he'd arrived earlier.

"That give me this one then," Hibi said dropping his bag and gently placing Calquate onto it. He then sat there himself and bounced a couple times. "Comfy. Have you seen the rest of the school yet?"

"I saw the cafeteria, not much else."

"Want to explore?"

Darn grinned. "Love to!" Hibi grinned back and the two ran down the stairs and towards the outer door. They passed by a guy who'd just walked in, clearly surprising him. "Sorry!" Darn called out.

* * *

Colin was still startled by the boys running past him and was standing a bit frozen. _They were sure in a hurry_ , Amy, Colin's Leafeon, commented.

 _Yeah_ , Colin agreed. He shook his head to clear his mind, his short light brown hair flying side to side and his bangs falling into disarray. He quickly fixed them, shifting them to the right and out of the way of his brown eyes.

He wore an ice blue polo with blue jeans and white socks and sneakers. The boy was rather thin and had an almost elfin quality to him which made him appear quite a bit younger than he really was. Colin continued on the way he was going when the boys had run past and began walking down the hallway to read the names on the doors. He found his very quickly as his room was on the first floor. There were two other names listed, Hunter and Zair. _I wonder if they're here_ _yet_ , Colin wondered as he knocked on the door quietly.

"Come in," someone called. Colin opened the door and walked inside. The guy was clearly older than Colin and was lying on one of the beds in the room with a Braviary settled at the foot of the bed.

"I'm Colin," Colin said.

"Hunter," the man replied. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Colin said. "This is Amy." He gestured to the Leafeon who was exploring the room.

"Venus," Hunter said, pointing at the Braviary. "Zair hasn't gotten here yet so you can pick which bed you want."

Colin nodded and selected the one closest to the door. He put his bag down and gave the room a once over. His attention was immediately drawn to the TV sitting on the dresser and the game console connected to it.

"Is that the new Electabox?" Colin asked curiously.

"Yeah," Hunter replied. "You play?"

"Not much," Colin said. "Looks fun though."

"We should play sometime," Hunter said.

Colin nodded.

Christopher appeared at their door. "Hey, it's dinner time if you want some," he said.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Colin said.

Hunter stood as well and the two made their way out the door. They entered the cafeteria where Christopher went to sit with the other teachers. The other students all seemed to be sitting at one table, so Colin walked over and joined them, Hunter did as well.

There were five girls and four boys, including Colin himself. "Hi there!" the blond haired boy next to him said. "Sorry for almost running you over earlier. I'm Hibi."

"I'm Colin," Colin replied.

"That's Darn," Hibi said pointing to his friend who was sitting across from him. Darn grinned and waved at him.

"Hey, we should do introductions around the table," a girl in a witch's hat suggested. "I'm Mari!" She then pointed to a brown-haired girl sitting next to her.

"I'm Ri," the girl said.

"Marie," said the ginger haired girl at the end of the table.

"Really?" Darn asked with a laugh. "Ri, Mari and Marie?"

"We're the three M's! Or Mariririe, or triple M, I haven't decided yet," Mari said.

Marie glared at her food and stabbed at it viciously with her fork. "That's Cassie," Mari said, pointing at the blonde haired girl sitting across from Marie. She seemed to be ignoring the conversation.

"I'm C-Cerise," the girl next to Cassie said. There was an empty seat next to Cerise, then there was Hibi.

"I'm Hibi," Hibi said, even though he had done that already.

"I'm Colin," Colin said.

Hunter was sitting across from Colin and he introduced himself as well. Darn was between him and Mari and introduced himself last.

"This is really exciting, isn't it?" Mari asked.

"It's just school," Marie grumbled.

"Just a new school in the Outerlands specifically for Pokésouls and run by the people who defeated Razan," Ri corrected. Marie glared while Ri smiled sunnily at her.

"I-I'm excited," Cerise said quietly. "I've never been to school before." Colin had to lean towards her to hear her voice.

"You've never been to school before?" Marie said aghast.

"N-not really. I was homeschooled some."

"I didn't go to school much either," Ri mused. "My parents loved to travel."

"You didn't go to school?" Cassie said with disgust. "School is important!"

"I can think of a lot of things more important," Ri replied.

"Like what?" Cassie demanded.

"Being alive. Clef." she gestured to her Clefairy. "Eating. Countless things really," Ri said, her voice loosing some of the cheer from before.

"Most of those things aren't issues in the city," Marie said.

"Because things are just so great there right?" Ri said.

"Hey, hey," don't argue you two!" Mari said. "You're part of Triple M! You have to get along!"

"I'm not part of that," Marie grumbled. She began viciously stabbing her food again.

"Hey, they're arguing like a Marie-d couple," Hibi said, laughing at his own joke slightly. If looks could kill, the glare Marie sent Hibi's way certainly would have. He gave her a sheepish smile and she turned away.

"Good one," Darn said with a quiet laugh.

"I don't think she appreciated that," Colin said hesitantly.

"It's something you have to risk when you're a pun master," Hibi said making a 'what can you do' gesture.

"Pun master?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah! I love puns," Hibi said.

"So you're punny?" Darn asked.

Hibi laughed. "Not bad for a pun apprentice."

"Punprentice?" Darn suggested.

There was a loud sound as Cassie pushed her chair back and stood. She brought her dishes over to the dirty dish station and walked off.

"She's not very fun is she?" Hibi said.

"She seems nice," Cerise said, clearly more uncomfortable now that Cassie had left.

"You must have a strange definition of nice," Marie replied.

"I don't like her much either. Does that mean we finally have something to bond about?" Ri asked, her voice back to its light flippant tone.

"Absolutely not," Marie replied.

"Don't fight Maririe," Mari chided.

"I thought it was Mariririe," Ri said.

"Well that's the three of us, just you two is Maririe," Mari explained. Ri nodded like this made sense. "Or double M, I'm still not sure which one I like more."

"I'm still not a part of that," Marie grumbled.

"I like it," Darn said with a grin. Marie shot him a dirty look. Colin glanced across the table at Hunter who'd been fairly quiet, but he seemed to be a bit amused by the conversation. At this point, everyone was basically done with their food and Marie stood up to leave. Ri instantly followed, earning a glare from Marie, and Cerise got up as well.

"Is it time to go back now?" Mari asked, getting up to follow the others.

Hibi and Darn exchanged looks. "More exploring?" Hibi asked.

"Yeah," Darn replied with a grin. The two grabbed their plates and ran to the dish station, beating Marie who was startled at their appearance.

"You want to go back now too?" Colin asked.

"Might as well," Hunter replied.

The two walked back in companionable silence. There was a new boy in the hallway of the boys' dorm when they arrived. He was reading the names on the signs, but stopped to look at them when Colin and Hunter entered.

"Hello," Colin said.

"Hi, I'm James," the other boy said. His hair was dark brown with a side fringe and his eyes were brown and friendly. He was wearing a blain black shirt, skinny jeans and black sneakers.

"I'm Colin, this is Hunter," Colin replied. Hunter gave the other boy a wave.

"Nice to meet you. It looks like my room must be upstairs," James said.

"There's supposed to be a common room up there too," Hunter informed.

"Really? You haven't seen it yet?" Colin asked. Hunter shook his head.

"Want to come look with me?" James offered. "I haven't seen anything yet. This is Annabeth, by the way." James gestured to the Audino at his side who waved at Colin and Hunter.

"Venus and Amy," Hunter said, gesturing to his and Colin's partners. The three boys and their Pokémon made their way companionably up the stairs. James checked the names on the doors as Hunter and Colin looked for the common room. James found his room before they found the common room and he put his bag down before rejoining them.

They found the common room soon after that. It was one of the center rooms and seemed to be one of the normal rooms that had just been filled with couches and chairs rather than beds and desks. The common room also featured a rather large TV and a couple game consoles.

"This isn't bad," James mused. "Based on everything else I've seen I expected this to be a bit more rundown."

Hunter walked over to the cabinet under the TV and started looking through it. "Anything in there?" Colin wondered.

"Lots of games," Hunter replied. "I've been wanting to play some of these."

"Should we try some out?" James asked. "They've got three controllers."

"Sure," Hunter said as he turned on one of the systems.

James held a controller out to Colin who backed away uncertainly. "I won't be very good," he said.

"Come on," James encouraged. "Give it a try." Hunter was gesturing to the controller as well, so Colin took it uncertainly. James smiled and took a seat on the couch. Hunter sat next to him and Colin took a place on a separate chair.

Colin ended up having a lot of fun and James and Hunter seemed like nice people. They'd switched games a few times and were now playing Mario Kart. Darn and Hibi came in as Hunter won yet again. "Look at all the games!" Darn exclaimed.

"You guys want to play?" James asked. "I'm James by the way."

"Hibi and Darn," Hibi said. "And yeah if you have room."

Hunter held up another controller and Hibi took it. The game only supported four players, so everyone took turns sitting a round out.

They were still playing when Christopher barged in. "You're too loud. Go to sleep," he commanded.

"You want to play?" Darn offered waving his controller.

"...What are you playing?" Christopher asked.

"Mario Kart."

Christopher stared at the screen for a moment, then grabbed the controller. "Just one game, then you're all going to be quiet."

They ended playing all night. Incidentally, they were all exhausted the next day.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I apologize for my awful brand names. The Electabox is an Xbox I guess. If you have any ideas for what other systems would be called, let me know, otherwise they're all going to have lame names :P Nintendo doesn't exist, but Mario does, he transcends worlds I guess. Plus I'm too lazy to come up with something of my own.**

* * *

 **Character Credits:**

 **Marian (Ri) is my character.**

 **Marianne Chevalier - imafangirlforever**

 **Cerise Irvine - PokeFreak45**

 **Marisa Hellsén - StattStatt**

 **Hibi Corrison - misoriri**

 **Hunter Bradley - UnfitDinosaur**

 **Colin Beaubois - Snowsheba**

 **James Chase - LadyLucina28**


	3. Marie's Blackmail Files

**_CONTAINS SPOILERS, READ WHOLE STORY BEFORE READING THIS_**

 **This is the character sheet in the form of Marie's blackmail files. As the story goes on, this will be updated with new information Marie (and you) learn.**

 **These are written by Marie, so information in them is biased and not always correct.**

 **Additions by Ri are written in _italics_**

* * *

Marie's Blackmail files:

* * *

 **Girls:**

Subject: Marian "Ri" Fairwood

Age: 16

Biography: Not much information known at the moment. She is from the Outerlands. HEY RI! If you're going to be editing my files, you could at least fill yours out. _And steal from you the chance to find out yourself? Never._

Personality: Annoying. She talks constantly about the most pointless things. Apparently she has practiced the skill.

Weaknesses: None known, but I will find them. Then I will use them and get her to stop talking! _Really? Good luck with that._ Stay out of my stuff!

Highest Attribute: Charisma

Partner: Clef the Clefairy

* * *

Subject: Cassiopeia

Age: 17

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Very serious. Finds school very important and doesn't like social interactions. Loves books

Weaknesses: Definitely lacks social skills.

Partner: Glaceon

* * *

Subject: Cerise Irvine

Age: 14

Biography: Apparently hasn't been to school much before.

Personality: She's very shy... Like really, really shy

Weaknesses: Her extreme shyness

Relationship Notes: Seems attached to Cassie

Highest Attribute: So... What was it? _What was what?_ The strange thing in the game! I know you were lying _:D You hate me knowing things don't you?_ I hate you in general. _So mean! Now there's really no reason to tell you_

Partner: Lampent

* * *

Subject: Marisa "Mari" Hellsén

Age: 15

Biography: From the city, but loves magic

Notable Relatives: Volke Hellsén (uncle)

Personality: Very loud. May actually be more annoying than Ri. Loves magic.

Weaknesses: Can't sneak up on anyone

Abilities: _Appears to be at least somewhat magnetic_

Highest Attribute: Magic

Partner: Spark the Magneton

* * *

Subject: Aspen "Ash" Woodville

Age: 16

Biography: Was sent to the academy by her parents

Personality: Seems nice. I don't know how she stands Mari. _Not_ _everyone is as irritable as you_

Weaknesses: Unknown

Abilities: Is a capable hacker

Highest Attribute: Intelligence

Partner: Pixie the Ninetales

* * *

Subject: Faye Breighton

Age: 17

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Seems friendly and outgrowing.

Weaknesses: _She likes clothes._ That's not really a weakness.

Highest Attribute: Charisma

Notes: Part of Leo's band

Partner: None

* * *

Subject: Katie Nakamura

Age: 15

Biography: Apparently came to the academy at Liliana's suggestion.

Notable Relatives: Liliana Icarus (Cousin)

Personality: Very polite and seems nice.

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Hermes the Gallade

* * *

Subject: Faith Mayfly

Age: 12

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Doesn't think others are worth talking to.

Weaknesses: Can't read or write

Highest Attribute: Speed

Additional Information: Uses sign language to talk

Partner: Banette

* * *

Subject: Shion Katashi

Age: 14

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Very quiet. Doesn't seem interested in making friends

Weaknesses: Unknown

Highest Attribute: Agility

Partner: Doll the Eevee

* * *

Subject: Mayday Amoratia

Age: 12

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Rather unfriendly, doesn't like small talk.

Interests: Survival training

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Gladius the Rhyperior

* * *

 **Boys:**

Subject: Hunter Bradley

Age: 20

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Pretty quiet, but not shy.

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Venus the Braviary

* * *

Subject: Colin Beaubois

Age: 16

Biography: Unknown

Personality: A quiet and soft-spoken person. He seems to be a kind person, but he can be hard to hear over Ri's constant chatter. _Hey, don't blame other people's shyness on me!_ If you'd stop talking I wouldn't have to.

Weaknesses: Possibly shy

Partner: Amy the Leafeon

* * *

Subject: Zair Spear

Age: 20

Biography: He apparently is a part of River and Kai's information network.

Personality: Very unmotivated. Seems rather lazy. River claims that he's smart, but I've yet to see anything to indicate this

Weaknesses: Has no motivation.

Partner: Sky the Lapras

* * *

Subject: Daren "Darn"

Age: 13

Biography: Unknown, though he seems to have met Pecha before coming to the academy

Personality: Very friendly

Weaknesses: Blind in left eye - could be useful somehow

Partner: None

* * *

Subject: Hibi Corrison

Age: 14

Biography: Unknown

Notable Relatives: Mira Lee (Adopted Sister)

Personality: Very friendly and loves puns

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Calquate the Shuckle

* * *

Subject: James Chase

Age: 15

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Seemed nice enough

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Annabeth the Audino

* * *

Subject: Equinox Soluna

Age: 16

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Seems friendly. Loves fighting

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Celsius the Kirlia

* * *

Subject: Silas Klein

Age: 18

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Very irritable, seems annoyed by most everyone

Weaknesses: Unknown

Skills: Good at drawing on people's faces

 _Advice_ : _Don't tell him he looks like a girl_

Partner: Danerabeth the Blissey

* * *

Subject: Leo

Age: 17

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Energetic and loves music

Weaknesses: Unknown

Notes: Is creating a band - current members: Leo, Faye

Partner: Oshawott

* * *

Subject: Gabriel King

Age: 15

Biography: His parents were Pokésoul researchers - likely the cause of his Pokésoul obsession

Personality: Seems focused on learning. Really interested in Pokésouls, possibly to an extreme degree.

Weaknesses: He appears hyper-focused on his research and may miss things because of this

Partner: None

* * *

Subject: Roland Lafferty

Age: 17

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Seemed tired and a bit simple minded

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Murky the Dragalge

* * *

Subject: Sunny Knight

Age: 14

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Friendly and cheerful

Weaknesses: Unknown

Additional Notes: Seems to enjoy following Mayday around

Partner: None

* * *

Subject: Jean Luc Saunders

Age: 16

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Quiet, doesn't like being the center of attention

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Alyssa the Meloetta

* * *

Subject: Lance Lockett

Age: 17

Biography: Unknown

Personality: Friendly, very charismatic

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Virizion

* * *

Subject: Taelian "Tael"

Age: 11

Biography: Seems to be a thief

Personality: Doesn't like talking to others

Weaknesses: Unknown

Partner: Arro the Flygon

* * *

Subject: Toriel "Tory" Lithium

Age: 13

Biography: Unknown. He got lost getting to the academy and only just arrived

Personality: Upbeat and seems to like joking around

Weaknesses: Unknown

Other Notes: Missing an arm, doesn't seem to be a sore subject though how he lost it is unknown

Partner: Inknthe Sliggoo

* * *

 _ **Additional Subject:**_

Stay out of my stuff Ri!

 _Subject: Marianne "Marie" Chevalier_

 _Age: 18_

 _Biography: She's from the city and doesn't like Outerlanders. Her parents forced her to come to the academy  
_

 _Personality: Thinks she's better than everyone._ I only think I'm better than the people I am better than

 _Weaknesses: Is easily annoyed._ I am not! _And that proved my point right there_

 _Interests: Spying._ It's not spying! It's information gathering! _Same thing._

 _Highest Attribute: Intelligence_

 _Additional Information: Seems to be a fan girl of some of the heroes, definitely Pecha and possibly Kai and River._

 _Partner: Barrett the Roserade_


	4. Got a Reaction

**Author's Note:**

 **People seemed to either like or not care about Marie's files, so I'm going to do those. I'll update it fairly often, though not necessarily after every chapter. Thanks as always, for all the reviews and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

 **I'm really sorry there are so many introductions all at once, I don't expect you to remember who they all are at the moment, but the classes will start soon that put them in smaller groups and hopefully you'll be able to get to know everyone better then.  
**

 **So, Zair has a Lapras and I'm assuming the water Pokémon have some sort of levitation abilities since you can use them anywhere in the game (except aerial battles), so his Lapras is able to travel over land, but prefers the water (sorry if you don't like this, but it makes sense to me).**

 **One more thing, Mira's name is still Mira Lee, even though she is married to Wolf because she became famous under the name Mira Lee and it's also the last remnant of her original family. Just in case anyone was wondering. (Sorry for all the notes)  
**

* * *

Chapter 2: Got a Reaction

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ , by Mira Lee

 _It was a large group of people who took Razan down, some of us more well known than others. I don't want anyone to be forgotten, so I'm going to write about them in this chapter. Let's start with the Salems. Blake Salem, older brother to Nami, worked for Razan. He was one of the many Pok_ _ésouls in the city who was threatened into joining Nature's Guardians. Razan threatened Nami, so Blake joined Razan to protect his sister. Nami knew something bad had happened to her brother to make him leave, so she searched for him. After three long years, she finally found him and brought him back from Nature's Guardians. He then joined the fight with the rest of us to bring down Razan. Since Razan's fall, Blake joined the Guardian Force and Nami started working with Pecha at her lab._

* * *

Ri woke and sat up. _Good morning_ , she sent to Clef. The Clefairy yawned and returned the greeting. _Looks like Marie's still asleep. You hungry?_

 _Starving_! Clef exclaimed. _I could eat a Ponyta!_

 _That's disgusting_ , Ri chided.

Clef giggled. _Come on Ri! To breakfast!_

 _Yeah, yeah. I'm getting up_ , Ri said as she stood up. Clef jumped off the bed and ran to the door. Ri opened it and the Clefairy charged forward. The doors were all closed, but a faint light under Cerise and Cassie's door implied someone was awake. Ri guessed it was Cassie; the girl seemed like a workaholic. Ri walked quietly down the stairs and outside. It was still early and the morning light was painting everything a faint pink hue.

 _Breakfast_! Clef sang.

Ri smiled in amusement at her Pokémon's excitement as she opened the cafeteria door for the Clefairy. The two made their way to the door at the back to get into the kitchen area. Ri hadn't been in this room before and was thankful that the kitchen looked nice and fairly modern. They must've added it when they fixed up all the buildings. _What do you want_? Ri asked. She began opening cabinets to see what there was. The cabinets were pretty well stocked and there was quite a bit of variety.

 _Have they got any pancakes_? Clef wondered.

 _Not ready, I could make some if you want_ , Ri offered. Clef's joy at the thought was enough for Ri to go find the flour. Ri didn't know much about cooking, but pancakes were one of the things she could manage. Mostly because Clef absolutely loved them.

Ri began mixing up the batter as Clef chattered a made up story to her. Ri was just pouring the batter into a frying pan when the door opened. It was Cassie.

 _Company,_ Clef said.

 _Yep, want to see how quickly I can run her off?_ Ri replied. Clef giggled in response.

Ri turned on a bright smile, something that was completely fake but she had mastered with years of practice. "Hey Cassie!" Ri said. "What're you doing up so early? Want some pancakes?"

Cassie gave her an annoyed look. "No thanks," Cassie said. She went to the cabinet, grabbed a granola bar and quickly vacated the kitchen.

 _New record?_ Ri wondered.

 _I don't think this one counts. She already didn't want to be here,_ Clef replied.

Ri was very good at talking. A skill she'd honed over the years when she found that people were rather quick to discount the girl who spewed seemingly endless amounts of friendly nonsense. If Ri were to stand quietly in the back instead, she would be remembered. The ditz who talks too much? Very forgettable. It was also a very useful talent to have when one wanted to annoy stuck-up, ginger-haired city girls.

Ri finished flipping the last pancake and dropped it on the plate. She'd made a few too many, but someone would eat them. Clef had already found a plate and was eating a pancake. _You want a fork_? Ri asked.

 _I'm good_ , Clef replied as she held her pancake like a cookie and took another bite. Ri got herself a plate and silverware and served herself a couple of the pancakes.

The door opened as Ri started on her second pancake. It was Mari. "Hiya Ri!" Mari said.

"Want pancakes?" Ri offered, gesturing towards the leftovers.

"Really? I'd love some!" Mari exclaimed lunging towards the leftovers. Ri watched this with some amusement. Sparks flitted around the other girl's body and Ri noted with some interest that the metal objects in the room began rotating towards her. Nothing actually flew at her, but judging by the slight tug Ri felt from her fork it wouldn't take much for metal things to start flying at the girl.

Mari grabbed a fork, which jumped into her hand - literally - and sat down to eat the pancakes. "These are good!" Mari complimented.

"Thanks," Ri said. "I worked at a restaurant in one of the places I visited."

"Really? That's cool," Mari said. "Have you traveled a lot?"

Ri started talking about some of the places she'd been, embellishing some of the stories more out of habit than any particular desire to look impressive. Ri often forgot what it was she was talking about when she went into what Clef called her 'chatty' mode. This was something that Clef liked to have fun with, as when the Pokémon said something to Ri, Ri would then add that in to whatever she was saying, despite lack of relevance to her current topic. Ri was fairly certain it was Clef's fault Ri had told Marie that story about aliens.

Ri had finished with her meal and was washing her plate when the door opened again. Marie stepped inside. Ri immediately plastered on her overly happy grin, careful to keep off any hint of annoyance. "Hey Marie! Good morning!" Ri greeted in the most cheerful voice she could manage.

"Ugh," Marie said when she noticed who the other two people in the room were.

"Mariririe! Together again!" Mari exclaimed around a bite of pancake.

"I'm not a part of that," Marie insisted.

"Yes you are," Ri replied. "You're part of our group!" She was probably overdoing the cheer a bit, but the look of complete annoyance on Marie's face was too funny for Ri to stop.

Marie grimaced and looked back at the door, but finally decided to go forwards towards the food. She opened the cabinet and a faint look of disgust crossed her face.

"Is the food not good enough for ya?" Ri asked.

"It's boring," Marie complained.

"Ri made pancakes earlier. They were good," Mari said, having just finished the last of them.

"I wouldn't eat anything made by her," Marie grumbled.

"You say the nicest things," Ri said. This awarded her another glare.

Marie apparently either decided the food wasn't good enough, or just wasn't worth being in Ri and Mari's company, and left. Ri's smile darkened to a more normal level at the girl's exit. "She's not very cheery is she?" Mari said thoughtfully.

"She doesn't like the Outerlands or the people who live here," Ri replied. "Being here is probably not great for her mood." This was rather more forgiving than Ri actually felt - it wasn't _Ri's_ fault she was born in the Outerlands after all - but she doubt Marie was actually that surly all the time.

"That's stupid," Mari declared surprising Ri slightly. "It doesn't matter where people are born or where they live."

"If more people thought like you did the world would be a much better place," Ri said. She wasn't sure she could really count herself among those who did think like Mari. Ri wanted to, but it was just too easy to blame the cities for her problems sometimes.

"Well, I'm amazing, of course the world would be better with more people like me," Mari replied with a grandiose gesture.

* * *

A girl wandered around the dirt clearing in the center of the academy, looking around at the buildings in obvious curiosity. There was an intelligent gleam in her bright amber eyes and a smile on her face. A Ninetails walked at her heels, though she was staring at the ground rather than the buildings.

The girl had long, strawberry blonde hair that was currently tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was wearing white jeans shorts, a short sleeved blue top and white sneakers. _This place looks nice, doesn't it?_ She commented to her partner.

 _I suppose_ , the Ninetails replied.

It was still quite early, and there didn't appear to be anyone around. That is until a ginger haired girl left one of the buildings and began walking across the clearing. "Hi there!" The girl with the Ninetails called out.

The ginger haired girl stopped to look at her. "Did you just get here?" She wondered, her voice had a note of incredulity.

"Yep," the Ninetails girl replied. "I'm Ash. This is Pixie." The Ninetails inclined her head.

"Marie and Barrett," the ginger girl said. "It's pretty early to be arriving isn't it?" She gestured to the still mostly dark sky.

Ash shrugged. "I woke up and decided to come on over."

"Right, well that's the cafeteria," Marie said pointing to the building she'd come out of. "The girls' dorm is that one. I haven't actually seen much else of the school yet," Marie said.

"I guess I'll head to the dorm to put my stuff down," Ash replied.

"Well I'm headed that way anyway so come on." Marie headed off to the building she'd pointed at earlier and Ash followed. Inside was a common area with several couches, and Ash recognized the woman sitting in the chair by the window as Nami Salem. "Good morning Nami," Marie said.

"Good morning," Nami replied. Her eyes then landed on Ash. "Hello, did you just arrive?" She asked.

Ash nodded. "It's very nice to meet you Ms. Salem. I'm Aspen Woodville," Ash said.

"Just call me Nami," Nami said. This was surprising to Ash as her parents had always been big on formality. She supposed she could get used to it though. "It's nice to meet you Aspen."

"I usually go by Ash," Ash informed.

"Your room is upstairs if you want to put your stuff down." Ash nodded and headed for the stairs followed by Marie. Ash checked the signs until she finally found the door with her name on it. Marie had passed that one, but turned when she saw Ash stop.

"You're Mari's roommate?" Marie said. "I don't envy you."

"You've met her?" Ash asked, pointing to the sign that said 'Marisa.'

"Unfortunately," Marie grumbled.

"Is there something wrong with her?" Ash wondered, becoming a bit concerned.

"She's -," Marie started.

"Hello Nami!" A voice downstairs exclaimed.

"Loud," Marie finished.

The owner of the loud voice came up the stairs dressed in a witch outfit. "I haven't seen you before! Did you just get here?" The witch girl asked.

"Yeah, are you Marisa?" Ash asked.

"My reputation proceeds me!" Marisa exclaimed. "But generally people call me Mari."

"I'm Ash," Ash said as she pointed to the name 'Aspen' on the door.

"You're my roommate?" Mari said excitedly. "Nice to meet you!"

A door by Marie opened and a blonde head poked out. "Keep it down," the scowling girl demanded.

"You're awake though," Mari pointed out.

"It doesn't change the fact that you're _too loud,"_ the girl growled.

"That's Cassie," Marie said. Cassie slammed the door. "She doesn't like noise."

"Noted," Ash replied.

"Come on in," Mari said, pulling on Ash's arm. She tugged Ash inside the room which was decorated on one side. There were a couple posters from the popular witch series, PokéWitch hung over the bed and desk. Ash put her bag on the undecorated side. Pixie came in and settled onto the floor.

"So you're a fan of PokéWitch?" Ash asked.

"Of course!" Mari said. "It's so cool, I've read all the books and seen every episode!"

The series was not very popular in the city, mostly because all the main characters used magic. It had a devoted fan base in the Outerlands though. The magic wasn't quite the same as in real life, but the similarities were enough for city dwellers to be wary of it. Since the defeat of Razan and the increased acceptance of magic by the government, the show had begun to gain some fans in the city, but it was still a very small following there.

"Are you a fan?" Mari asked hopefully.

Ash shook her head apologetically. "I've seen a few episodes, but I never watched it regularly."

Mari sighed but didn't seem overly disappointed.

"So you're from the Outerlands?" Ash surmised.

"Nope," Mari replied.

"You're from the city?" Ash said in surprise.

"Yep, is that a problem?" Mari wondered.

"No, it's just unusual for someone from the city to be interested in magic."

"People who don't like magic are stupid," Mari declared. "Magic is _awesome_."

"I've never used it, but I don't have a problem with it. I'm from the Outerlands though, so that's not a huge surprise."

"Do you have any spell books?" Mari asked excitedly.

"No, sorry," Ash replied.

Mari shrugged. "I'm sure I'll learn more in the magic elective anyway. Which one are you taking?"

"Tech," Ash replied.

"You like computers?" Mari wondered.

Ash nodded. "I love them. I lived in a small town, but I was able to talk to so many different people using my computer."

Mari didn't seem to really understand what that meant, but nodded anyway. "Computers aren't as cool as magic, but they're alright," Mari said.

* * *

A few hours later, at a more reasonable time, another girl approached the school. The girl's hair was short and blonde, cut into a slightly angled bob. Her eyes were grey. She wore an orange shirt with denim shorts and black leggings. Upon her head was a blue cap with a brilliant red feather sticking out. Across her shoulder was an orange bag and there were sneakers on her feet. _Here we are,_ she mused to her partner.

 _Yep_ , her Gallade agreed.

"Hey there!" A female voice said from behind her as the girl felt an arm being slung around her shoulders. She jolted in surprise and turned towards the voice.

The girl was blonde, like the first girl, but hers was much longer and was tied into a braid that hung over her left shoulder. Her outfit consisted of a silvery-white t-shirt that was tucked into a pair of neon pink shorts. On her feet were dark blue slippers and over her shoulder was a white tote bag. "I'm Faye," the girl said. She was several inches shorter than the Gallade Pokésoul.

"Katie," the first girl replied, still reeling a bit from being snuck up on.

"I just got here," Faye said. "How about you?"

"I just arrived as well," Katie said. "This is Hermes, by the way." Katie gestured to her Gallade.

"Cool," Faye said, staring at the Pokémon. "I'm not a Pokésoul myself."

"Really?" Katie said in surprise. The two girls had started walking again and were now in the center of all the buildings.

"Yep! I do have Pokémon though," Faye said. "Where are we supposed to be going?"

"I'm not sure," Katie said.

"Hey there!" Katie and Faye turned towards the new voice. The call had come from Wolf Winters.

"You're Wolf!" Faye said. She finally removed her arm from around Katie's shoulders to point at the white-haired man.

"Yes I am," Wolf replied. "Did you two just get here?"

"Yes sir," Katie answered.

Wolf laughed. "Just Wolf, sir makes me feel old," he said. Katie nodded. "If you're looking for the girls' dorm, it's that building." Wolf pointed towards one of the buildings.

"Thank you," Katie said.

"Yeah, thanks!" Faye said. The two girls made their way to the dorm. When they opened the door they stepped into a lounge area, but it was empty.

The two walked up the stairs and began looking at the doors for their names. "Hey! We're roomies!" Faye exclaimed pushing open the door to their shared room. Katie followed more sedately and sat down on one of the beds.

"New people!" They heard someone exclaim from next door. There was the sound of a door flying open, then a girl in a witch outfit appeared at their door. "Hello there!" She exclaimed. "I am the Great Marisa! You may address me as Mari."

"Hello Mari," Katie replied on instinct. Her mind was still reeling from the noise. "My name is Katie Nakamura and this is Hermes."

"I'm Faye," said the other blonde, looking much less startled than Katie.

"Hi there, I'm Ash," said a girl standing behind Mari. Her voice was a much more normal volume. "We're next door to you." The girl pointed to the side.

"You want to meet the others?" Mari asked. "They're all here."

"Sure," Faye said. Katie nodded as well.

Mari grinned and marched down the hallway. She opened one of the doors and threw it open. "Double M! We have new people!" Katie peered around Mari and Faye to see the two girls in the room.

"Double M?" Faye asked.

"I'm Mari, that's Marie and Ri." Mari pointed to the two girls. "Ri's full name is Marian, so we're Triple M," Mari explained.

"So you're Marie, Mari and Ri?" Ash wondered.

Mari nodded. "Double M, this is my roommate Ash, and that's Katie and Faye."

"Hello," Marie said. Ri just gave them a wave.

The door on the other side of the hall opened. "Could you keep it down?" A blonde girl demanded.

"Sorry Cassie!" Mari said, though her apology wasn't any quieter than anything else she'd done. "That's Cassie and Cerise." The second name apparently applied to the purple haired girl who quickly hid after her name was said.

"Has anyone seen my physics book?" Cassie asked.

"Oh, I have that," Mari said. She vanished into her room for a second, then reappeared with a book. She handed it over while Cassie stared at her suspiciously.

"How did it end up in your room?" Cassie demanded.

Mari shrugged. "I must've grabbed it," she said unapologetically.

"From my room?" Cassie asked. Mari just shrugged again. Cassie glared, then went back into her room, closing the door behind her.

"She's a bit mean," Mari said to the others.

"Did you steal her book?" Marie wondered.

"I just borrowed it," Mari corrected.

"Without asking?" Faye wondered.

"If she'd asked then Cassie would've known where it was," Ri pointed out. Mari didn't protest this statement.

Faye shrugged. "Just don't take any of my clothes."

Mari looked at Faye. "My clothes are way cooler anyway," Mari said.

There was the sound of a door opening down the hall and the girls all exchanged a look. Mari then grinned, and bounded down the hallway for the last room. The door was open and Mari charged right in. "Hi there!" She called. The others, even Marie, followed, though much less loudly.

"Who are you?" They heard a new voice demand. Katie finally got to a position where she could see and found there were two unknown girls in the room. One was staring at Mari with a cold look and the other seemed to be completely ignoring everyone.

"Marisa! You can call me Mari though," Mari replied. "Who're you?"

"Mayday," the girl replied. Her hair was in a pageboy style and was a grayish-black color. Her eyes were very similar in color to her hair and appeared cold. She wore a sleeveless black tank top, combat pants and black boots. Her pants had pockets all over and they appeared to all be full.

The other girl in the room was lying on her bed with a Banette sitting next to her. This girl had pure white hair that fell all the way to the middle of her back. Her eyes were very strange, as they were red on black. She was wearing dark jeans and a dark blue hoodie. "So are you Faith or Shion?" Mari wondered as she looked at the sign on the door.

The girl ignored her. Mari looked to Mayday who shrugged. "I just got here." Mayday turned away and began sorting through her things. Katie noted that she had a lot of weapons and survival gear.

"Do you want to meet everyone?" Mari asked.

"Whatever," Mayday replied. The complete lack of interest was actually seeming to get to Mari slightly. Katie tried to find something to say to make her feel better, but Ash cut in.

"I'm Ash. This is Marie, Ri, Katie and Faye. If you ever need anything we'd be happy to help," Ash said.

Mayday nodded but didn't respond. "So you're not going to say anything?" Faye said to the girl with the Banette. The girl continued to ignore everyone.

"We don't even get a name?" Marie wondered.

"Excuse me, this is my room," a quiet voice said. Katie, who was near the back, quickly stepped out of the way. The new girl was older than the other two in the room, but younger than everyone else. She had dark brown hair that fell just above her shoulders. Her eyes were an odd scarlet color and she avoided making eye contact with anyone. She wore a black beanie with a red tank top and black ripped jeans. On her hands were black ripped gloves and on her feet were red high tops. At her side was a shiny Eevee.

"What's your name?" Mari asked the girl.

"Shion," the girl said.

"So you're Faith!" Mari said in triumph, pointing at the white haired girl.

The girl flicked her eyes towards Mari, then went back to staring at the ceiling. "Got a reaction!" Mari exclaimed.

"Congratulations," Marie said sarcastically.

"We should leave them to get settled," Ash suggested. Katie agreed with this immediately. The quiet and strangely intense girls were unnerving her. They left and all ended up in Ash and Mari's room, though it was a bit crowded.

"They're very intense," Faye commented.

"Yeah," Ri agreed. "They may be more intense than Cassie."

"She actually looks personable compared to them," Marie agreed. Mari grinned hugely and Marie gave her an odd look. "What?" She demanded.

"You two are getting along!" Mari exclaimed.

"I think one thing Ri said wasn't stupid, that doesn't mean I like her!" Marie yelled.

"I think we're besties now," Ri said with a big smile, wrapping an arm around Marie who jumped out of her chair to avoid it. The two left, Ri chasing Marie.

"They'll be friends soon," Mari said sagely.

"I'm not so sure about that," Faye doubted.

"It's possible," Ash said, though she didn't sound very convinced.

"So, um, what elective classes did you sign up for?" Katie asked, hoping to get to know the others better.

"I'm in the art class," Faye replied. "Mostly for the music."

"Tech," Ash said. "I love technology!"

"Magic for me," Mari said, which was not surprising at all judging from the girl's outfit.

"I'm in magic too," Katie said. "I want to learn healing magic."

"Cool!" Mari exclaimed. "We'll be in the same class then! Magic buddies!"

* * *

"Do you want to go talk with everyone?" Cerise asked. "They sound like they're having fun." The distinct sound of Mari's laughter and voice was clear even through the closed door.

"No," Cassie replied as she continued to work.

"What are you working on?" Cerise asked. She was frightened to ask, but the other girl had been working all day and school hadn't started yet.

"I'm studying," Cassie said.

Cerise wanted to ask what it was she was studying for, but the girl was already sounding irritated. _We could go by ourselves_ , Lampent suggested.

Cerise felt a huge spike of fear. It was safe, here in this room. Out there were people Cerise didn't know. She was much more comfortable right here, in the silence and safety.

 _It'll be fine_ , Lampent assured.

 _No, I'll stay here with Cassie_ , Cerise decided. "Can I help?" Cerise asked.

Cassie actually stopped writing for a second to look at Cerise. "What?" Cassie asked, though Cerise was fairly certain the girl had heard her.

"C-could I help?" Cerise repeated, already mentally berating herself for offering. She didn't want to make the other girl mad.

"Uh, sure," Cassie replied, sounding rather surprised. Cerise in turn was surprised her help wasn't rejected. "If you could quiz me on these words that would help."

Cassie handed her rather large book over to Cerise, who took it very carefully. Cerise read the words and their definitions, but whatever it was Cassie was studying was so far beyond what Cerise knew, she wasn't even entirely sure what subject it was. Nevertheless, Cerise read out the first word. Cassie answered, and the two passed the time this way.

* * *

A man walked up to the buildings of the academy, hands behind his head as he slowly continued on his way. At his side a Lapras floated, swimming though the air. _I miss the water_ , the Lapras, Sky, sighed.

 _There's supposed to be a pond there_ , the man assured. His hair was short and brown, his bangs parted to the right side and slightly covering his hazel eyes. The man was rather tall and was wearing a black beanie over most of his hair. He wore a simple, loose white shirt and a pair of brown trousers. At the moment, he also had a large bag but it was clear this was just his luggage for school.

"Hey, you just get here too?" The man turned to see a younger guy walking up to him. The younger man had black hair that stuck up all over the place, but somehow didn't look completely weird. He was tall as well, but not quite as tall as the man with the Lapras. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt along with black jeans and black hiking boots. At his side was a Kirlia.

"Yeah," the older man said. "I'm Zair."

"Equinox," replied the other. Equinox appeared rather stern and somewhat intimidating by his appearance, but his tone was friendly. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Zair replied.

"Here's the boys' dorm," Equinox said as he read a sign by a building.

"And it's right by the water," Zair added. Sky made a happy sound and floated over to the water, making a loud splash as she dove in.

"So you're a Lapras Pokésoul?" Equinox asked.

Zair nodded. "Her name's Sky."

"This is Celsius." Zair nodded to the Kirlia.

The two guys, plus Celcius, walked into the dorm building to find it rather quiet. Zair looked at the doors and found his name almost immediately. "Looks like this is my room," Zair said. Equinox looked at Zair's door and the one across.

"Mine must be upstairs. See ya around," Equinox said. Zair nodded at him and entered his new room. No one was inside, but two of the beds already had things on them. Zair shrugged and dumped his stuff. He walked around the room for a little while, but then got bored and decided to look around the rest of the building. The room across from his had two names, Leo and Silas. He tried knocking on the door, but there was no answer. He shrugged and walked up the stairs Equinox had gone up earlier.

He found Equinox standing in the hallway staring inside one of the rooms with a look of bemusement on his face.

"What's going on?" Zair wondered as he walked over to the younger man.

Equinox just gestured through the door. Zair noted the words, 'Common Room' written on the door before he looked inside.

The interior of the room had a couple couches and several chairs, most of which were occupied by sleeping boys. The younger boys were asleep on one of the couches, one hugging a Shuckle and the other using a Ditto as a pillow. The oldest, and someone Zair recognized as Christopher, had gotten a full couch and was snoring slightly. Two people were one the floor and a boy with a Leafeon was curled up in one of the chairs. On the TV was the title screen for Mario Party.

"Are they alive?" Zair wondered.

 _They could use some food_ , Sky commented, monitoring the situation through Zair.

"They look like they're breathing," Equinox replied. "Though if they were playing Mario Party I'm surprised no one killed anyone else."

"Terrible game," Zair said. "Should we wake them up?"

"And face the wrath of a bunch of people who just played Mario Party all night? Nah, let's leave them be," Equinox replied.

"Probably a good idea," Zair agreed. The two left the common room and Zair went back down the stairs.

Equinox joined him a couple minutes later. "Want to look around the rest of the school?" Equinox suggested.

Zair shrugged. "Sure," he agreed. The two walked outside and found a few girls talking with someone Zair immediately recognized as Mira Lee.

"Hi there," Equinox greeted.

There were two unknown girls with Mira and Zair assumed they must be students. "Hello!" Said one of the girls, who was wearing what appeared to be a witch outfit. "I'm Mari, this is Ash."

"Equinox, Celsius and Zair," Equinox replied.

"Welcome to the school," Mira said. "Has Christopher showed you around yet?"

"He was passed out upstairs," Equinox replied.

"Passed out?" The girl named Ash repeated incredulously.

"Apparently he played video games all night," Zair explained.

"Oh, well I get that," Ash replied.

"He's supposed to be helping out, not sleeping," Mira said with a bit of annoyance.

"I'll go wake him up," Wolf offered, appearing beside his wife.

Mira smiled fondly at him. "Don't make him too mad," she suggested.

He grinned back at her. "I make no promises."

"I'll help!" Mari offered. She trotted off after Wolf looking excited.

"That's not going to end well," Ash mused.

"It's really not," Zair agreed.

"Hello boys!" Greeted a new face.

She had long blonde hair and Ash greeted her with a, "Hi Faye." There was another blonde next to Faye who looked much quieter.

"This is Faye and Katie," Ash introduced. "Equinox and Zair," She explained to the girls.

"Nice to meet you," Katie said politely.

"Likewise," Equinox replied.

"Katie, you're Liliana's cousin, right?" Mira asked.

"Yes. She suggested I come here," Katie replied.

"Well I'm glad you came," Mira said. "It's nice to have you here. All of you."

"Thank you," Katie said.

"We were just going to get some breakfast," Faye said. "Want to join?"

"Sure," Zair said. Ash and Equinox agreed as well, though Mira did not as she had to stay and help arriving students. The group of five walked to the cafeteria and they all got in line for food. There was a ginger haired girl already at one of the tables and Zair's group went to join her.

"Guys, this is Marie," Faye introduced. "Marie, this is Equinox and Zair."

"Hi," Marie said. She was already half-way done with her meal. "This is way better than yesterday's," she commented.

"The food was bad yesterday?" Katie wondered as she picked at her food.

"It was made by Christopher," Marie replied.

"Well he definitely didn't make this," Equinox said.

"How do you know?" Marie wondered.

"He's passed out in the boys' dorm," Equinox replied.

"So are most of the guys," Zair added.

"I had wondered why we hadn't met any boys yet," Faye said.

"I met some of them yesterday," Marie said.

"Any cute ones?" Faye wondered.

Marie gave her a weird look. "Who cares?" She wondered.

"I care!" Faye said.

"Were they nice?" Ash asked.

"They seemed fine," Marie replied. "None of them are as annoying as Ri or Mari, though pun master Hibi comes close."

"We live with a pun master?" Equinox asked.

"He's awful," Marie complained.

"We met Mari," Zair mused. "And presumably Hibi is one of the people asleep in the common room. Haven't met Ri yet."

"Hope that you don't," Marie said darkly.

Ash laughed a bit. "I talked to her earlier she's really not bad."

"You haven't been tortured by her," Marie countered.

"Tortured?" Katie said nervously.

"She thinks I talk too much," a girl standing behind Marie said. Marie jerked and turned around.

"What are you doing here?" Marie demanded.

"I missed you," the girl who must be Ri said with a grin. Marie glared at Ri who smiled back, then Marie grabbed her plates and stomped off. Ri took the newly vacated seat and her Clefairy jumped up on the table. "So who're these guys?"

"I'm Equinox. That's Celsius and Zair," Equniox explained.

"Nice to meet you," Ri said.

"So are you a Pokésoul?" Faye asked, the question directed at Zair.

He nodded. "My partner Sky is a Lapras."

"Too big for the lunch room then," Faye surmised.

"She's a bit big, yeah," Zair agreed. "What about yours?" Zair looked around, but couldn't see a Pokémon that seemed to belong to Faye.

"Don't have one," Faye replied.

"You don't?" Zair said. "Why're you here then?"

Faye shrugged. "Why not?"

"She's not the only one without a partner," Ri remarked. "One of the boys, Darn, isn't a Pokésoul either."

"Really?" Katie said in interest. "I wasn't really expecting there to be any non-Pokésouls here. Not that I have anything against them!" She added quickly.

Faye just laughed. "I'm not offended," she assured. "My father thought I could learn a lot from the school here and I agreed. Besides, I always enjoy being different."

"This is probably the one place where being a non-Pokésoul makes you weird," Equinox commented.

* * *

 **Sorry for the abrupt ending and lack of male characters. I really meant to have the guys wake up at some point in here, but it got long.**

 **Character Credits:**

 **Aspen Woodville - Dragon2920**

 **Faith Mayfly - PokeSpeBanette**

 **Shion Katashi - Animewovles**

 **Mayday Amoratia - negimafanman**

 **Katie Nakamura - LadyLucina28**

 **Faye Breighton - Imagination Heaven**

 **Equinox Soluna - FlameUser64**

 **Zair Spear - imafangirlforever**


	5. Don't Say His Name

**Author's Note:  
**

 **Marie's Blackmail Files updated.**

 **A note on legendary** **Pokémon: a couple people wanted legendary Pokémon (as you'll notice) and I decided I was fine with that, so rather than being legendary, they're just rare. So they're very uncommon, but not one of a kind - this is for the ones that weren't story related in the games. Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Dialga and the like are still unique.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews!  
**

* * *

Chapter 3: Don't Say His Name

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ , by Mira Lee

 _Let's move on to Pecha Woods. She's the daughter of a scientist in the city who studied Pokésouls. When she was still a child, her family went on a trip to the Outerland. During that trip, her parents perished in an extreme storm and Pecha was left alone in the Outerlands. She grew up there and eventually met Zyra, Nami and Nevin. They ended up helping fight Razan and in the process was able to reclaim her father's lab. After Razan's defeat, she reopened her father's lab and continued her father's research with Nami's help._

* * *

The first thing Hunter noticed upon waking was that he wanted to still be asleep. Also he was really mad at Hibi for some reason, possibly blue shell related. A groan from beside him indicated that he wasn't the only one awake.

 _Took you long enough to wake up_ , Venus commented testily. Hunter could feel through their bond that the Braviary was out flying.

 _What time is it_? Hunter wondered, pushing himself upwards. James had been the one who groaned and was now holding his head in his hands. Hibi and Darn were sharing one of the couches and Christopher was sprawled out on the other, controller still in his hands. Colin had somehow squished himself into a chair with his Leafeon and looked very uncomfortable, though he was still fast asleep.

"You alright?" Hunter asked, even quieter than his already low speaking volume.

"Fine," James replied, sounding very tired. "I vote we don't stay up that late again." He sat up as well.

"I'm pretty used to doing this actually," Hunter said. "Usually by myself though."

"Shut up," Christopher groaned. He threw a pillow at them which Hunter easily dodged.

"Good morning!" Darn said, having apparently gone from asleep to wide-awake in the matter of seconds.

"Morning," Hunter replied.

"Good morning!" Cried the loud voice of Mari as she barged into the room followed by Wolf.

Wolf made a beeline for Christopher and shoved the man off of the couch. Hunter watched in amusement as the black-haired man made a loud complaint and tried to grab Wolf's leg.

"What was that for?" Christopher growled.

"You're supposed to be working," Wolf replied. "Mira's out there doing everything herself because you're up here. How much Mario Party did you play anyway?"

"Don't say his name," James said darkly.

"Whose?" Mari wondered. "Mario?"

"Yes!" James replied.

"We played all night," Darn said in answer to Wolf's question.

"Half-way through Christopher started drinking. So he's _beery_ tried," Hibi said. Apparently being tired didn't stop his love of puns.

Wolf sighed. "You're a great role model aren't you," he said to Christopher, who hadn't stood up yet.

"They don't need role models. We were saving the world when we were their age," Christopher pointed out.

"We didn't mind," Darn added. "He was more fun drunk anyway."

Hunter had a flashback to the night before, where Darn had talked drunk Christopher into placing bets on some of the games. Darn, being sober and far more clever than he appeared, had won a rather large sum. Hunter idly wondered if Christopher remembered all that. Judging by the extremely dirty look sent Darn's way, he did.

"That doesn't excuse it," Wolf sighed. "Whatever. Just get out there and help Mira." Wolf nudged Christopher, none too gently.

"Fine," Christopher grumbled. He stood up and walked out the door, holding his head.

"Are students getting drunk already?" This comment came from someone Hunter hadn't met before. If the person hadn't just spoken in a clearly male voice, Hunter would have thought the newcomer a girl. The guy's hair was auburn in color and tied back into a ponytail. He observed all the Pokémon in the room with blue eyes, his gaze showing extreme interest. The boy's face was rather androgynous and didn't help at all in making him look more masculine. Neither did his height, which was shorter than several of the girls.

He wore an unbuttoned navy blue blazer over a white dress shirt. His pants were light colored khakis that were held up by a belt. On his feet were dark brown loafers.

"Hey there," Mari greeted. "I'm Mari!"

"Gabriel," the boy said.

"I'm going to go back to the girls' dorm," Mari said. "Later boys!" The girl slipped around Gabriel and skipped away.

"I need to see if Christopher ever got outside," Wolf said. "Nice to meet all of you." The white haired man left as well.

"So what are all of your names?" Gabriel asked. "Are all of you Pokésouls?"

"I'm not," Darn replied. "My name's Darn."

"Everyone else here is a Pokésoul," James said. "I'm James, this is Hunter. That's Colin." He pointed to the boy who was still sitting in a chair, but had apparently woken at some point and had just chosen to remain silent. At the mention of his name, the boy gave a nervous wave. "And that's Hibi." Darn finished, pointing to the other boy. "Are you a Pokésoul?" Darn wondered.

"I'm not," Gabriel replied. "But I find your kind fascinating."

"Our kind?" James repeated.

"Pokésouls," Gabriel said, still looking at the various Pokémon in interest.

Further explanation was prevented by a new face poked his head in and looked at everyone. "Hello there," he said. The boy had blonde hair and eyes the color of topaz.

"Hi," Darn greeted.

The boy walked the rest of the way into the room and Hunter was able to see the rest of him. He seemed rather young, probably around Hibi's age and was on the shorter edge of average height. He wore a white t-shirt, jeans and a belt which had 3 rods filled with some kind of green liquid hanging off of it. "I'm Sunny," he said.

"Nice to meet you," Darn replied. "I'm Darn, this is Hibi. That's James and Hunter, you're standing next to Gabriel. Colin's over there." Darn pointed to Colin.

"Nice to meet all of you," Sunny replied. Hunter wondered if he would actually be able to remember all of the names he'd just had thrown at him.

 _Probably not, he doesn't look too bright_ , Venus commented.

"You guys were playing Mario Party?" Sunny wondered, gesturing to the TV that was still on.

James quickly hit the off button on the console while Hunter said, "We don't want to talk about it."

* * *

It was nearing midday when another student arrived and the sun was high in the sky. Its glittering light reflected off of the new boy's hair, highlighting the dual colors it contained. The sky blue parts were gelled to the top, while the black parts of his hair were underneath. His hair wasn't the only thing about the boy that betrayed his attention to his appearance. His outfit was clearly well put together, all the pieces being of nicer quality than most the other students. He wore a white t-shirt underneath a black jacket that had a blue collar. Tan jeans fell just above his black high tops, that had white laces. His eyes were blue and he wore a red backpack. A belt around his waist was lined with red Poké Balls, though the Oshawott at his side walked free.

He saw another person standing in the ring of buildings looking around curiously. The person had shoulder-length golden blonde hair that was kept in a ponytail. This, combined with the figures rather short, petite figure made the blue-haired boy assume the person was a girl.

The blonde-haired person turned towards the blue-haired boy and looked at him with large, sky-blue eyes. "Hi, I'm Leo, did you just get here?" The blue-and-black-haired boy asked.

"Yeah. I'm Silas," the blonde-haired person said. A Blissey stood next to Silas and waved. "This is Danerabeth."

Silas wore a black vest over a blue collard shirt and black pants. On his wrist sun glinted off of the golden bracelet he wore. _He's a boy_? Oshawott wondered.

 _I'm...not entirely sure_ , Leo replied. _Best not to ask_.

"Hello!" A cheery female voice said. A green-haired form that Leo knew for sure was a woman appeared.

"Mira Lee!" Leo said with a bit of shock. He'd heard several of the people who fought Razan would be at the school, but he hadn't been expecting her. "You're teaching here?" He asked, a bit of hope in his tone. Leo's main passion was music, not dance, but he appreciated art in almost all forms and Mira was a master at dance, and pretty good at other arts as well

"I'm teaching the art class," Mira replied.

"I'll be in your class then!" Leo said.

"You're taking art? I chose free period personally," Silas interjected.

"I want to be a musician," Leo explained.

"Hey Mira!" Leo and Silas turned to see Wolf Winters coming over with a girl in a witch outfit.

"Hey new kids!" The witch girl said. She looked at Silas and tilted her head curiously. "Are you a girl or a boy?" She asked.

Silas glared. "I'm a boy!" He yelled.

"It's not my fault you look girly," the witch girl said with a shrug. Silas was clearly seething and Mira looked at Wolf hopelessly. He was watching the scene with clear interest.

Leo noticed a group of students coming from one of the buildings and approaching. "Hey Mari, are you having a staring contest?" A girl with brown hair asked.

Mari turned to the girl and grinned. "I just asked if he was a guy or a girl and he got all offended," Mari explained.

Everyone's attention turned to Silas, who looked very uncomfortable with attention, while being simultaneously mad that no one could tell he was a boy. "So he looks girly, who cares?" Zair said. "I'm going to go take a nap." He walked away towards what Leo assumed was the boys' dorm.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," one of the girls said. "My name's Ash." They then went through introductions.

It was into this group that another new boy arrived. This boy had light blue hair, like Leo's, except that instead of being mixed with black, had purple highlights. His hair fell to just below his shoulders, falling over the top of his black and white checked hoodie. Tie as unzipped, showing the bright red t-shirt underneath. His pants were dull green in dolor and there was a black chain hanging out of his left pocket. He smiled at everyone with a friendly but somewhat vacant look in his blue eyes. He wasn't overly muscular, but he was taller than most of the students currently gathered. At his side was a Dragalge.

"Hi there," Mari said. "Who're you?"

"I'm Roland," The boy said.

"It's nice to meet you," Katie said.

Roland nodded and yawned. "This is Murky," he said gesturing to his Dragalge. He yawned again. "Which building do we sleep in?" He asked.

"I was wondering that as well," Leo agreed.

"It's that one," Mira said, pointing to one of the buildings.

"Celsius and I were heading back that way anyway, we can go with you," Equinox offered. The Kirlia at his side nodded happily.

So Leo, Silas and Roland followed Equinox back to the boys' dorm. Upon arriving, Equinox went to the stairs while the other three began checking the doors for their names. "Looks like we're roommates," Leo said to Silas when they found their door.

Silas shrugged. "Whatever," he replied.

"I don't see my name. I guess I'll head upstairs," Roland said. Silas walked into the room and threw his stuff down onto one of the beds. Leo took the other one and began carefully taking out his clothes and products.

"Hey, we get our own bathroom!" Leo said excitedly. That was good, it meant he wouldn't have to get up early to get to the bathroom before everyone. Silas just shrugged. "You're not excited?" Leo asked.

"I'm concentrating," Silas said. The other boy was putting things away, nothing that required silence.

Leo decided he'd had enough of Silas's standoffish behavior, and left the room in search of more interesting people. He headed up the stairs and found someone exiting a room at the end of the hall. The boy had brown hair that faded into a green color at the tips. It was in a low ponytail except for the bangs framing is face. He was wearing a green hat with a red feather and an olive green cloak that had a jagged end. Under the cloak he wore a black long-sleeved turtleneck and a short-sleeved brown vest. Upon his hands were black gloves and his pants were tan in color. Around his right leg was tied a white bandanna. Grey boots were on his feet.

The boy noticed him and gold eyes flicked towards Leo. "Hello," he said with a broad smile. This boy looked a bit feminine, but Leo knew better than to comment on it after Silas's anger earlier.

"Hi, I'm Leo," Leo said.

"Lance," the other boy replied. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. Have you been here long?" Leo wondered.

"Nope," Lance replied. "I just got here. You're the first student I've met."

"You haven't met your roommate yet?" Leo wondered.

"Haven't got one," Lance replied, pointing to his door which only had one name on it.

"What? How come you get your own room?" Leo complained. "I have to share with Silas."

"My room's smaller," Lance explained.

"Want to swap?" Leo asked.

"Definitely not," Lance replied.

Music drifted from one of the other rooms and Leo was instantly distracted. It was lovely music, and Leo was going to meet the person making it. He walked down the hallway, searching for the source and finally finding her correct room, he pushed the door open.

The boy inside started at the sudden door opening and looked at Leo with light green eyes. The boys hair was golden blonde and slightly spiky. It was on the longer side of short. He wore a black sweater under a dark grey jacket with jeans and a white scarf wound around his neck. On his left wrist was a silver watch and a bracelet with several musical charms on it.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. His voice had a different accent than the others.

"I heard your music," Leo said excitedly, pointing to the guitar in the boy's hands.

"Oh, sorry," the boy apologized.

"What? No don't apologize! You're really good! I love music too," Leo explained hastily. "Is that your partner?" Leo asked abruptly once he noticed the rare musical Pokémon Meloetta floating in the room. "She's beautiful!"

"This is Alyssa," the boy said. "I'm Jean Luc."

"I'm Leo," Leo replied. "Can I see your guitar."

"Uh," Jean Luc began uncertainty but Leo had already grabbed it to look. It was clearly well loved and a beautifully crafted instrument. His inspection was stopped by Wolf who called down the hallway.

"Hey everyone! We have an assembly outside so come on out!" Leo returned the guitar to follow the instructions. Lance and Jean Luc followed Leo and the three made their way to the assembly. There was already a large group of people gathered on the dirt ground in the center of the buildings. Leo recognized Silas and a couple other boys as well as the group of teachers. Wolf joined the other teachers as Leo, Jean Luc and Lance joined the students.

As the students mingled, introductions were shared and also learned most of their names, though he doubted he'd remember even half of them.

"Welcome everyone!" Pecha called out, silencing the chatter. "First off, thank you all for coming. I know this place doesn't seem like much and you all are probably a bit worried about how all this will end up."

"I'm not!" Darn called out.

"Thanks Darn. Anyway we called you out here to cover some rules."

Wolf stepped forward. "I'm the official guard of the school. If you ever feel threatened or worried about something, tell me and I'll handle it." He gave them all a winning grin and posed a bit. Mira looked amused at his antics while Pecha and Christopher both rolled their eyes, Christopher much more obviously than Pecha.

Nami gently pushed Wolf to the side and cleared her throat. "I know most of you already know this, but Christopher and I are the dorm monitors. Contact Wolf for security problems, but for most anything else you can speak to one of us. We'll always be on campus and you can come to us anytime." Christopher let out an audible groan at this and Pecha glared at him.

Pecha took the front again. "On to some of the rules. Really, there aren't many. You're all old enough to make your own decisions so we're not going to try to control you. We do have a few rules though. If you decide to go off campus, which you are welcome to, we'd like you to sign out. Wolf will have a sign up sheet that we'll put up for you to use. This is just so that we don't freak out when we can't find you. That said, if you are going to miss class, you have to have a good reason. We're not going to just let you skip classes. If you miss too many classes with no explanation, we will have to expel you."

"And we need all of your help for something," Mira added, stepping forward. "As you've noticed, there aren't many teachers and we just won't be able to cook for everyone every day. Because of this we're going to cook in shifts. There will be five groups. Each dorm will be split into two groups and the teachers will be a group as well."

"We have to cook?" Leo asked.

"Well, you don't _have_ to, but you'll have to deal with everyone else being angry about there being no cooked food," Pecha replied.

"So yes," Leo concluded.

Pecha shrugged, then continued with her speech. "Classes start tomorrow and we'll have more teachers here. Uh, when you get to Wyvrn's class, don't..." Pecha trailed off.

"Don't make him mad," Wolf finished. The other teachers all nodded in agreement with this.

"Well, I think that's everything! I'll see you all tomorrow in class! My office is above the cafeteria by the way. If you ever need anything from me and I'm not teaching, I'll probably be there," Pecha continued.

"Alright, let's eat now!" Wolf exclaimed. "We made Opal and Onyx cook, so I have no idea what the food's going to be like."

"Opal and Onyx?" Mari wondered.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about them," Pecha mused. "If you see two creepy twins, they were sent by Zyra and they're here to fix things up."

"You'll know them when you see them," Wolf assured. "Now let's eat!"

Leo walked towards the cafeteria with everyone else. He made a beeline for the food and managed to beat most people there and immediately got a plate. He filled it up and found a seat at an empty table. The teachers all sat at a table together and the students began to split up. Silas came to Leo's table, much to Leo's surprise as he'd gotten the feeling the girly-looking boy didn't like him. Lance, Jean Luc and Jean Luc's roommate, Sunny, joined as well.

"This food isn't too bad," Lance mused. "I was a bit worried after everything Wolf said."

"I was too!" Sunny said. "He made the twins sound all mysterious and stuff."

"Well they're still mysterious, but at least they can cook," Lance replied.

"Do any of you play music?" Leo asked. "Other than Jean Luc that is."

"Nope," Sunny replied.

Lance shook his head. "I like listening, but I've never learned."

"I don't play anything either," Silas said.

Leo sighed. "I was hoping I could get a real band together."

"There are still a lot of other students," Lance pointed out.

"I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone!" Sunny exclaimed. "What are you excited about Jean Luc?" Jean Luc looked startled at being put on the spot and just stared for a moment.

Apparently taking pity on him, Lance cut in. "So what electives are you all taking?" He asked.

"Arts," Leo replied.

"Free period," Sunny said.

"Free," Jean Luc agreed.

"Me too!" Lance exclaimed.

"Same," Silas said.

"You're all in free period?" Leo wondered.

"Apparently," Lance replied.

"None of you are in the art class?" Leo complained.

"Nope," Silas replied unsympathetically.

"I'm in the art class!" A girl said, taking a seat at their table. Leo vaguely remembered her as being named Faye.

"Good for you two," Silas said, in a voice that clearly didn't express any such emotion.

"I haven't met anyone else who's in the art class though," Faye said. "I don't think it's a popular choice."

"Why take a class when you could have free time?" Lance wondered.

"To learn things," Faye replied. Silas scoffed. A few other people joined the table and there was some mostly awkward conversation as people tried to get to know each other.

* * *

After the meal, Lance walked down the hallway to his private room and shut the door behind him, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so.

 _Allison, are you alright_? Virizion, Lance's partner, asked.

 _I'm fine, just glad to have a minute to myself,_ Lance, or rather Allison said. Allison took her hat off and shook out her hair, making her appearance instantly more feminine. It was something she'd started doing a long time ago, the crossdressing. It wasn't that she wanted to be a boy, she quite liked being a girl actually, it was the feeling it gave her. When she was Lance, she could be confident and powerful and no one would bully her. As Allison? Well, as Allison she was bullied so much she'd hated school. That wouldn't happen here, not if no one knew about Allison. No one bullied Lance. As Lance, Allison was strong.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I know they're getting ridiculous amounts of freedom, but in the first story they were all basically living by themselves already and were similar ages, so I think people in this verse just grow up very quickly. Plus it's Pokémon. Where "Now that I'm ten I can go on a journey all by myself!" Is apparently normal.**

* * *

 **Character Credits:**

 **Silas Klein - imafangirlforever**

 **Leo - Amy47101**

 **Jean Luc Saunders - W. R. Winters**

 **Roland Lafferty - PoisonBanana**

 **Gabriel King - LightvsDark99**

 **Sunny Knight - Twinfeather**

 **Allison/Lance Lockett - PokeFreak45**


	6. Grades Don't Matter

**Author's Note:**

 **Marie's Blackmail Files updated.**

 **Sorry if this chapter's a bit choppy, I wanted to get to all the classes. Anyway, thanks as always for the reviews and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Grades Don't Matter

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ by Mira Lee:

 _Christopher Xanatos. To be honest, I didn't really spend any time with him during the Razan incident, I got to know him afterwards. He's actually quite intelligent, but he seems to hide it behind sarcasm and his homelessness. After the Razan incident he returned to the streets and his work as an information broker._

* * *

Ash woke to the sound of metal clinking together. Confused, she opened her eyes and looked around. Mari was sitting up and metal was flying towards her.

"Oops," Mari said.

"What's happening?" Ash wondered, sitting up herself.

"Uh, it's Spark," Mari replied. She was clearly trying to be quieter than normal, but her voice was still louder than most people's normal voices. "He's magnetic so sometimes it sort of, carries over to me. I can control it most of the time." She stared at her hand for a second and the coins and metal odds and ends that had stuck to it fell to the bed.

"That's interesting," Ash mused. She yawned and shifted her legs off the bed. "Do you think it's times for breakfast yet?"

"I don't remember what time anything was supposed to be," Mari replied. "But we can see if Ri's awake. Maybe we can bribe her to make us pancakes!"

Before Ash could voice an opinion, Mari had already charged out the door (still in her pajamas, which had cartoon witches on them) and went next door. "Mari wait," Ash protested, but Mari had already thrown the door open. To Ash's surprise, the room was empty. "Huh," Ash mused. "They're gone."

Mari looked surprised too. "Maybe they're in the cafeteria already, let's go!"

Ash grabbed Mari's sleeve before she could get too far. "Let's get dressed first," Ash suggested.

"Oh fine," Mari grumbled. They returned to their room and both grabbed their clothes. Their room was across from the hall bathroom, which was empty when they entered. The bathroom was actually fairly nice, for a communal bathroom. The first room was just a room with a large mirror and sinks. A shelf had been set up by the wall where everyone could leave their toiletries. There were two doors on the left, both leading to toilets. There was another door on the right and that one led to a room full of shower stalls.

Mari and Ash both picked up their toiletries and after a quick shower they returned to their room, both clean and now wearing proper clothes. Mari straightened her hat as Ash slipped on her shoes. "Let's go!" Mari announced, brandishing her broom.

Ash nodded and the two walked out into the cool morning air. There was a light on in the cafeteria and Mari and Ash found Ri and Marie sitting at a table. Darn and Hibi were with them.

"Marie must be having a great time," Ash mused.

"Good morning!" Ri called out to them.

"Hey Double M!" Mari replied.

"So you've settled on Triple M for your group name then?" Darn asked.

"I'm still undecided," Mari replied. "Maybe I'll use a different one every day."

"I'm still not a part of that," Marie grumbled.

"Where did you find the food?" Ash asked.

"There's food in there," Hibi replied, pointing to a door at the back.

"Nothing's cooked though," Ri warned. "If you want something warm you have to make it yourself." Ash noted the food everyone was eating and they all did appear to be eating granola bars and cereal.

"I'm fine with cereal," Ash assured.

"I want pancakes again," Mari whined. She looked piteously at Ri.

"Sorry," Ri replied. "I'm not making them two days in a row. Try again later."

"Fine," Mari pouted as she headed to the door. Ash joined her and examined the cereals. They all looked a bit too sugary for her, so she grabbed a granola bar.

"Do they have any lemon flavored cereal?" Mari wondered as she scanned the flavors.

"I didn't see any," Ash replied. "They do have lemons though." Ash gestured to some of the fruit.

"Really?" Mari asked excitedly. She grabbed a couple of the fruit and skipped back to the table.

 _Just lemons_? Ash wondered. _Yikes_.

 _I wouldn't eat that_ , Pixie replied.

Ash followed more slowly and took a seat at the table beside Mari. Mari cut her lemon in two and bit into it, much to the shock of everyone else at the table.

"Wow," Darn said.

"I've never tried that before," Ri mused.

"I wouldn't advise it," Marie said. "That would be horrible for a normal person. Actually, maybe you should try it."

"I think I'll pass," Ri replied.

Only one person seemed unsurprised by Mari's behavior, and that was Hibi. "Is he...asleep?" Marie wondered, staring at Hibi.

"Looks like it," Darn agreed.

"That looks uncomfortable!" Mari exclaimed. It did, as Hibi was seated in his chair and leaning forward with his head resting on the hard table.

"Says the girl eating a lemon like an apple," Marie retorted.

"Yep!" Mari agreed.

Other students came in as time passed and the original group all finished their breakfast. Ash put her bowl at the dirty dish station and returned to the dorm with Triple M. When they got there, Nami was in the common area and she stopped them. "Good morning," she said. I have your class schedules here." Nami flipped through the papers she was holding and passed them out.

"Thanks," Ash said as she received hers. At the top it said, 'Advanced Class' then had a listing of her classes and the times for each. The others got theirs as well and they all went upstairs to prepare for the first day of classes.

* * *

Cassie walked towards her first class entering the buildings with the classrooms and finding the room she was sent to. It had a number, 101, as well as a label which read, "Advanced Class." Cassie nodded at this label, completely unsurprised that she would be placed in that class.

She entered and found only one other person in the room. It was an auburn-haired boy that Cassie ignored as she went to sit at the front of the room. There were ten desks in the room, put into two rows of five. At the front of the room there was a desk for the teacher and a large electronic screen on the wall to be used for the class. Cassie chose a seat at the end of the first row and put her books on her desk and arranged her pens. Glaceon jumped up to the window ledge and lounged along the side.

"Hello," the boy greeted. Cassie was sure he'd introduced himself the day before, but Cassie hadn't bothered to remember anyone's names. After Cassie didn't reply, the boy continued. "I'm Gabriel. Are you a Glaceon Pokésoul?"

"Yes," Cassie finally replied.

"Do you find that you can withstand colder temperatures more easily than most people?" Gabriel wondered. Cassie ignored him.

The door opened again to a stream of words that Cassie recognized as belonging to Ri. There was the sound of a chair shifting and someone sitting next to Cassie. She glanced over to see Marie who was determinedly ignoring Ri, who took the seat next to Marie.

Marie's Rosereade, Barrett, walked over to the window to hang out with Glaceon. Ash showed up a few minutes later and took the seat next to Ri. Gabriel was in the seat behind Marie. Colin and Hunter entered, Hunter taking the seat next to Gabriel and behind Ri, while Colin sat next to him behind Ash. Zair took the seat at the end of the back row.

"You're not actually in this class," Marie said to Ri. "Why don't you go to your own class."

"I am in this class actually," Ri replied.

"This is the _advanced_ class."

"Yep," Ri said with a grin.

"The standards must be pretty low," Cassie mused, glancing around the room at the other students."

"Good morning everyone!" Pecha exclaimed as the blue-haired woman walked into the classroom.

"Pecha!" Marie gasped, her expression becoming suddenly much more friendly. "I thought you were teaching the Pokésoul class."

"I am," Pecha replied. "But the history class doesn't have a teacher yet. I'm handling it today, but we're probably going to end up switching off until I can manage to talk someone into coming here to teach this class."

"Can't we just, not have history class?" Zair asked.

"Not if we want this to be a real school. There are some specific requirements we have to meet, and having a history class is one of them," Pecha replied.

"That's annoying," Zair said with a sigh.

"This class will probably be mostly self-study until I can get a permanent teacher," Pecha said.

"I like reading," Ash commented.

"That's good," Pecha replied.

"Do we have to study history?" Gabriel wondered. "I'd prefer to spend my time studying Pokésouls."

"I appreciate the scientific spirit, but you do have to study history." Pecha walked over to a bookshelf in the room and pulled down some books. "I have two books for each of you. They're both general overviews of history, one of the Outerlands and one of here cities. For now we'll be covering these, sorry if this ends up being too easy for you guys."

"I'm totally fine with that," Zair said.

Cassie flipped through one of the books and as unimpressed. "Do you have any more detailed texts?" Cassie asked.

"Well, there are a bunch of books here," Pecha said, pointing to the bookshelf. "You're welcome to look through them." Pecha walked through the rows, handing out the books. They were general overview books and Cassie didn't think there'd be much in there she didn't already know. "If you do take any of the books, make sure to write your name down on the sign up sheet." She pointed to a sheet of paper attached to the wall next to the bookshelf.

"I've read this one before," Ri mused, flipping though the book about the cities.

"Really? Why would you have read that?" Marie demanded.

"My parents were very interested in the cities," Ri replied.

"Hey, since history's never been my favorite subject anyway, how about we just spend this class getting to know each other?" Pecha suggested.

"Not interested," Cassie replied, heading for the bookshelf.

"Uh, well that's fine too," Pecha said.

"What did you have in mind?" Ash asked.

"Well, actually, I don't know. What do you normally do?" Pecha wondered.

"You don't know?" Hunter asked.

"I grew up in a tiny town that didn't even have a school. Plus everyone kind of avoided me because of Zap..." Pecha explained. "So I never really had any chance to do get to know you games."

"You didn't miss anything," Marie assured. "Those kinds of games are all horrible."

"I agree with that," Zair said.

"So what do you want to do then?" Pecha wondered.

"Can you tell us a story about fighting Razan?" Marie asked, excitement coloring her tone despite her obvious attempt to sound aloof.

"That's technically history too," Ash added.

"Well, alright, if you all want to hear about it," Pecha agreed. No one raised any objections, so Pecha ended up telling the class about how she met Zyra, Nami, and Nevin.

* * *

The class passed rather quickly as the students listened to the story, and soon they were interrupted by the door slamming open. A man with white-hair and red eyes stormed in. "English time," he announced.

"Oh, hi Wyvrn," Pecha said, sounding less than enthusiastic. "Remember, don't be too hard on them." Wyvrn glared and Pecha stood.

She loitered by the door for a second and Wyvrn glared and snapped, "Get out!" Pecha left, though she mouthed "Sorrry!" To the students before escaping.

Ash observed the new teacher a bit anxiously. Wyvrn wasn't a very well-documented figure. His name was listed fairly often, but descriptions of his personality were much vaguer and less common than ones for others of the heroes.

"This is the advanced English class," Wyvrn said. "I expect all of you to pay attention and work to the best of your abilities."

"Should we introduce ourselves?" Ash asked.

"I don't care what your names are," Wyvrn growled

"How are you going to grade things then?" Hunter wondered.

"Grades don't matter," Wyvrn replied.

"I agree!" Zair said.

"You still have to do the work," Wyvrn said.

"Oh," Zair replied, deflating.

"So what are we learning in this class?" Ash wondered.

"I don't know," Wyvrn replied.

"But you're the teacher," Marie protested.

"I have some classic books. You will read them," Wyvrn ordered.

"And then what?" Hunter wondered.

"Stop questioning me!"

"Sorry," Hunter replied.

The room was silent for a few minutes as the students stared at Wyvrn and he stared back. "Uh... What are we doing?" Ri asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No talking out of turn!" Wyvrn chastised. Ri didn't seem particularly intimidated, which clearly bothered Wyvrn.

There was more silence, then Ri spoke again. "So where are the books?"

"Here." Wyvrn dropped his bag on Ri's desk and the girl startled at the loud noise. He glared at her until she opened the bag and pulled out the books inside. She took two and passed the bag to Ash, who took some and handed the bag on. "You will begin reading now," Wyvrn said.

Ash quickly opened her book and began reading. She recognized the book, it was a boring novel. It was considered a classic, but Ash had never liked it. She would not be admitting this in front of Wyvrn.

* * *

After a silent class with students all desperately reading, or at least pretending to, Wyvrn announced, "Class is over." He stepped out of the class and left, much to the inhabitants great relief.

"We have to see him _every_ day?" Colin moaned.

"Not weekends," Gabriel corrected.

"Still way too often," Hunter replied.

Another person walked into the room, this one much calmer than Wyvrn. "Hello everyone, I'm River Mayer," the woman announced. "I'll be your math teacher."

"You seem much less crazy then Wyvrn," Ri commented.

"Uh, yeah. That's really not saying much," River replied. "I don't have much for you today, just a small test to see where your all at knowledge wise."

"I don't want to," Zair complained.

"Well, you could not take it and get stuck taking math with the thirteen year olds," River offered. Zair looked like he was honestly considering it, so River quickly added. "That was a joke." River pulled some papers out of her bag and gave them to Ash, who took one than handed it on. "This shouldn't take long. Once everyone's done you can do whatever you want. Lunch is after this, so you can go ahead there if you'd like."

"Who's cooking today?" Marie asked as she handed the papers backwards to Gabriel.

"I'm not sure," River replied. "I'm not really involved in the day to day stuff."

"I talked to Christopher this morning," Hunter informed. "He said they were handing out the meal assignments at dinner, so the teachers must be handling it today."

"Test time," River reminded though she didn't sound annoyed with them.

Cassie finished hers practically instantly and handed it to River. She then walked away without a word. "Have a nice day!" River called after her. There was no response. Ash and Gabriel were the next ones to finish, Marie being a close third. Gabriel walked out the door, but Marie and Ash stayed put. Colin, Hunter and Ri finished after and soon the only one still working was Zair. After a few minutes had passed and he still hadn't finished, everyone turned to look at him.

"How are you not done?" Marie wondered.

"It wasn't that hard," Colin agreed quietly.

"I hate math and I thought it was okay," Ri agreed.

"I don't feel like it," Zair replied.

"Do the work Zair," River demanded.

Zair glared at the paper, scribbled a few things and walked out. Hunter, curious, leaned over to look at the answers. "He wrote five for every answer..." Hunter said.

"Is he really supposed to be in the advanced class?" Marie wondered.

"He's not stupid," River sighed. "He's actually very smart, just unmotivated."

"It sounds like you know him," Marie pointed out.

"I do actually," River confirmed. "He's part of my information network."

"You have an information network?" Marie asked, sounding extremely interested. "Kai's a part of that, right?"

"Of course," River replied. "Christopher is as well. I have contacts all over the world that help me keep an eye on what's going on in the world."

"That's so cool," Marie said, her voice displaying wonder rather than her normal disdain.

"Are you still Marie?" Ri wondered.

Marie jolted and her annoyed frown reappeared. "Of course I am," she grumbled. "I just appreciate a good information network."

"Is that why you have a folder labeled 'Blackma-" Ri was cut off by Marie who quickly said, "Let's go to lunch!"

Marie hurried off, followed by the others at a slower pace.

River came with them. "How was Wyvrn as a teacher?" River asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"I'm not sure yet," Ash admitted.

"He told us to read," Hunter offered.

"He also doesn't care what our names are," Ri commented.

"Yeah, that's very Wyvrn," River replied.

* * *

The group of advanced students walked into the cafeteria. Cassie was sitting at a table with a book in front of her. Colin thought he recognized the cover as being one of the books Wyvrn had assigned. Gabriel and Zair didn't seem to be around.

They all swarmed the food, which was only half set out.

Colin took a slice of pizza and took a seat by Hunter. "Well, our first day of classes is already half-over," Ash said.

"Yep," Marie agreed. "One day closer to it being over."

"You're really happy to be here huh?" Ri asked.

"Why are you here if you don't want to be?" Hunter wondered.

"My parents forced me to come," Marie complained.

"My parent did too," Ash admitted. "But I really don't mind. It's nice here and I love learning."

"I'm most excited about the technology class," Colin said.

"I'm in that too," Marie mused.

"Me too!" Ash added. "I love technology!"

Marie turned to glare at Ri. "If you're in that class," she started.

"I am," Ri said. Marie face twisted and she opened her mouth - probably to yell something - when Ri continued. "I'm not. I just wanted to see what face you'd make." Marie's expression was then torn between even more rage and relief. Ri laughed at this. "I took the free period. I don't really feel like spending more time in classes then I need to."

"Same here," Hunter agreed.

"I wonder what the others are taking," Ash mused.

"You mean Cassie, Gabriel, and Zair?" Hunter clarified. Ash nodded.

"I think Zair said he was in the magic class," Colin informed. "I don't know about the others."

* * *

When Hunter and the others arrived back at their classroom, Nami was already there, sitting at the front desk and reviewing some papers. Cassie was there as well, her nose, as usual, stuck in a book.

Everyone took their seats, sitting in the same arrangement as last time. "Hello everyone," Nami greeted. "I'm going to be your science teacher."

"Yay, science," Zair said unenthusiastically.

"How come Pecha isn't teaching science?" Gabriel wondered.

"She's teaching the Pokésoul class," Nami replied. "That class is next. Although, I suppose you and that other three who aren't Pokésouls don't actually have to go."

"I will most certainly be there," Gabriel said.

"Anyway, our fist topic is going to be biology. I thought a good way to start would be talking about everyone's partners. So, does anyone know anything about Frosslass?" Nami gestured to her partner, Yuki who floated and appeared somewhat bashful at the attention.

The class went on, going over their partners and some of the interesting qualities they had. A beeper on Nami's phone went off sometime later and she drew the conversation to a close. "It's time for the Pokésoul class now," she said. "It's a nice day today, so we're holding it outside. Come on, I'll bring you there."

Nami led the way out the door and the students shuffled after her. "I wonder what this is going to be like," Ash mused.

"It should be different," Hunter replied.

Gabriel nodded in agreement. "Nothing like this has ever been done before," he said excitedly.

"Gabriel," Marie started. He looked at her. "You really like Pokésouls, don't you?"

"I do, it's such an fascinating phenomenon," he replied.

"I guess so," Marie agreed.

* * *

There were already several other students standing in the clearing, and Ash recognized Pecha's blue haired form standing with them. The group of advanced level students joined the mob and waited for the rest of the students to arrive.

The rest of the students arrived, and Pecha called for attention. "Hello everyone! This is the Pokésoul class. I do understand that a few of you are not Pokésouls, so some of this will not be relevant to you, but we're also going to be covering self-defense in this class, so I'd appreciate if you'd stick around anyway."

"Not a problem," Darn said. The other three seemed to agree with this, Gabriel most of all as he'd already pulled out a notebook and a pen.

"Okay, well, I'm going to start us out with using our partner's physical powers," Pecha said. "The most basic points of that, is drawing on their element. I'm sure you've all done this before, wether accidentally or not, but I've found one of the best ways of training is to simply practice channeling their power for as long as you can. The more you get used to the feeling, the easier it becomes to use their element, or elements, and then later, to use their moves."

"There's a lot of you here, and I can't watch over all of you, so let's split into groups. We're going to make four groups," Pecha said, gesturing to where Mira, Nami and Wolf stood beside her. "There are 25 of you, so break into three groups of six and one of seven."

"Triple M!" Mari called out, wrapping her arms around Ri and Mari, preventing them from escaping. "Let's team up! You in, Ash?"

Ash blinked in surprise, shocked into silence by the girls' sudden entrance. "Sure," Ash agreed after a moment. Hunter and Colin were still standing near them, so Ash invited them as well.

"Okay," Hunter said. Colin nodded his agreement as well. Wolf wandered over to their group.

"Hey there, I'm Wolf," he said.

"We know," Marie said, her voice annoyed probably because she was still stuck with Mari's arm over her shoulder. "I thought you were supposed to be on guard duty."

"I am, all the students are here right now, so I am too," Wolf replied. "So, time to practice!"

"Are you going to do it as well?" Ash wondered.

"Nah, I'm on guard duty," Wolf replied.

Mari finally released Marie and Ri, the former quickly taking several steps away.

"So we're just channeling their basic elemental energy?" Ri asked, faint pink energy building up in her palm and forming a small sphere.

"Exactly like that," Wolf agreed. "Then just hold it there for as long as you can."

Ash looked down at her own palm and began to reach for Pixie with her mind. From that connection, she could draw the fire powers of the Ninetails into herself and create flame. She did so, sweat dripping down the side of her face at the concentration it took. The longer she held it, the more it hurt and after a few moments she had to release it.

She took a quick break and looked around at the others as she shook her hand out. Colin and Marie's partners were both grass types so they were both sitting down and drawing grass and other green things up from the barren ground. She watched as Colin tired and the grass disappeared back into the ground.

Hunter appeared to be creating air currents between his fingers and also seemed the least tired of anyone. Ri and Mari seemed about tied, looking less practiced than Hunter, but better than everyone else. Mari was happily bouncing in place as she watched the Sparks jumping across her skin while Ri simply observed the pink ball she held in her hand.

Ash took a deep breath, then reached out for the fire again.

* * *

The time quickly passed and then, it was time for the elective courses. Ri and Hunter watched as the others went off to their classes. "So want are you going to do?" Ri asked.

Hunter shrugged. "I think I'll go catch up on some sleep." He shuffled off towards the boys dorm.

"Bye!" Ri called after him. Ri looked around at the others, curious who else had free period. She recognized them all, even though she hadn't actually spoken to most of them, thanks to Marie's blackmail files. Somehow the girl had managed of get photos of everyone and already knew their names and ages. How exactly Marie had come upon this information, Ri really wasn't sure.

The only other girl in the free period was the cold and logical girl, Mayday. She was walking towards the woods, and Ri watched with interest as the boy, Sunny, followed her. The situation actually reminded her a bit of herself and Maire, as it looked as if Mayday was completely ignoring Sunny while the boy was talking at her. Ri wasn't sure if Sunny was doing it to be irritating like Ri did, or if the boy actually was friendly. She was leaning towards the second one.

The others that were in the free class, were Gabriel, Silas, Lance and Jean Luc. Jean Luc and his Meloetta were walking away, in a different direction than Mayday and Sunny.

Ri walked over to the remaining three to find Gabriel staring at Virizion, Lance's partner. Ri fond her gaze pulled to the Pokémon as well.

"Wow, Virizion," Ri said.

"Yeah, I know she's pretty rare," Lance said. "Really neat right?"

"Are you more powerful than normal Pokésouls?" Gabriel asked. "We could test! How about you fight these two?" He gestured to Ri and Silas.

"Not interested," Silas grumbled and he walked off.

"Friendly isn't he?" Ri mused.

"I don't know if I'm stronger or not," Lance said in reply to Gabriel's question. "I don't really feel like fighting though."

Gabriel sighed. "It would be interesting though," he sighed.

"So you're Lance, right?" Ri asked.

"Yeah, that's me. Sorry, I don't remember your name," he apologized.

"I'm Ri!" Ri replied.

"I'm going to look for adventure!" Lance announced.

"Where?" Ri wondered. "It looks pretty peaceful around here."

"That's why I have to look for it," Lance replied.

"Uh, right. I think I'll just go to my room," Ri said.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for the abrupt ending there... The next couple chapters will deal with the same day, but for the other classes.**


	7. That was Insulting

**Author's Note**

 **Marie's Blackmail Files updated**

 **Sorry this chapter is a bit choppy, I got busy but I didn't want to post late. Thanks as always for all the reviews! They're really encouraging :)**

* * *

Chapter 5: That was Insulting

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ by Mira Lee

 _Wyvrn. I really don't know what to say about him. He was convicted of a crime (I've never gotten the full story, but it seems to have something to do with punching a man who insulted Wyvrn's favorite author) and sent to prison. He was released early when he agreed to join the Guardian Force. They were so desperate for Pokésouls at the time, that they overlooked his crime. Wyvrn's gotten much less violent since he got out and he hasn't committed any other crimes yet. As far as I know anyway... As for the Guardian Force, the number of Pokésouls they have has gone up now that Razan isn't threatening them away, but they're still trying to entice more to join._

* * *

Shion woke early, as usual and looked at the shiny Eevee lying beside her head. _Good morning Doll,_ Shion greeted.

 _Morning!_ Doll said cheerfully. Doll stretched and sat up. Shion did the same and found the room empty. This wasn't surprising, as she'd been the only one in the room when she went to sleep as well. _Are they still outside?_ Doll wondered.

Shion shrugged. _I suppose so_ , she replied. Both girls had left the room the night before. Faith's motives were a complete mystery as the girl had yet to communicate in any way other than hand gestures. They probably had some sort of meaning, but whatever meaning that was Shion had no idea. Mayday was by no means talkative, but she was much more forthcoming than Faith. She had said that she wanted to practice her survival skills, whatever that meant.

Shion stood and shuffled over to the bathroom. Thankfully, no one was in there either as Shion really didn't feel like talking with anyone. She showered quickly and returned to her room dressed in her everyday clothes.

There were some papers taped to the door and Shion paused to look at them. They were class schedules. Shion took hers and went into her room. The room was still empty, and Shion wondered for a moment if Faith and Mayday would ever find their schedules, but that wasn't her problem. She debated with herself, Doll chiming in occasionally, if she should go to the cafeteria, and finally decided to go. She didn't want to talk with anyone, but she'd have to get used to going there eventually so she may as well start now.

Shion left her room and walked down the stairs. Nami was in the common room and greeted her. "Did you find your schedule?" Nami asked.

Shion nodded and continued on her way. The cafeteria was rather full, so Shion grabbed a granola bar and went to eat outside. She walked slightly away from the buildings to sit in the grass, angling herself towards the school so she could keep an eye on things. Shion had long since finished her food when one of the teachers called out, "Time for class!" Shion sighed and headed for the classrooms. The yell was loud, but it wouldn't carry far into the woods, which was where Shion suspected Faith and Mayday were. _Think they'll show up?_ She wondered idly as she walked to class.

 _No idea,_ Doll replied. Shion entered the school building and found her classroom. The door was marked with a sign that read, 'Young Class.'

Shion opened the door and found Mayday already there. There were only eight desks in the room and they were arranged a bit haphazardly. Shion picked a desk in the back and close to the door. Mayday was over by the window, they exchanged a nod of recognition, but no words.

The door opened again and Darn walked in with Hibi. "Hey there!" Darn greeted. He was met by silence. He shrugged at the silence and took a seat at the front, Hibi taking the seat next to him.

Cerise was the next student to show up and she cowered by the door for awhile before bolting to a desk and quickly sitting and trying to make herself as small as possible, as if she could hide herself in the chair. The seat she'd chosen was behind Hibi and Darn. Hibi turned around to talk to her.

"Hi there," he said.

"H-h-hi?" Cerise said, her fear turning it into a question.

"Are you alright?" Darn asked. Cerise nodded vigorously. Sunny came in during the conversation and took a seat near Mayday.

A woman walked in and smiled at everyone. "Hello, I'm River Mayer," the woman said. "I'll be your math teacher."

"Hello!" Darn greeted.

"Let me just check to make sure you're all here," River said. She looked at a paper she was holding, glancing up at the students occasionally. "It looks like we're missing a girl named Faith. Does anyone know where she is?"

The window opened at the end of the question and everyone turned to see Faith hop up on the ledge, then onto the desk closest to the window which. She took a seat and seemed completely oblivious to the incredulous looks she was getting.

"Well, I guess everyone's here then," River said. "It's nice to meet you all." The sentiment was returned by a few of the students. "To start off with, I have a small quiz to see where your knowledge is at. This shouldn't take long." River handed out the papers and Shion took hers. It was a very simple test and she quickly finished.

River took up the papers and looked at them. "Faith, you didn't write anything down," River said.

Faith didn't reply. "Faith?" River asked. Faith made a gesture. "Sign language?" River wondered. Faith made another gesture. "Sorry, I wasn't told there was someone who used sign language," River said. "Can you understand me?" Faith nodded and made more gestures.

"What does all that mean?" Darn wondered.

"She just said that she doesn't waste her voice on people she doesn't respect," River replied.

"Well... That was insulting," Sunny mused.

"She doesn't talk, that doesn't explain her not writing anything," Mayday pointed out.

River looked at Faith who made a few more gestures. "Oh," River said in surprise.

"What?" Darn asked.

"She doesn't know how to read or write," River replied. "Well, that's going to make things a bit harder."

"Won't the English teacher teach her how to read?" Sunny asked.

"That teacher is Wyvrn," Hibi pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't think he's the best person to be teaching that," River agreed. "Well, I'll have to give this more thought, but it shouldn't effect things too much. I don't have anything else planned for today anyway and I'll be prepare tomorrow. You can do what you want now." River walked to the back to talk with Faith. Sunny chattered at Mayday while Darn and Hibi talked, sometimes drawing Cerise into their conversation. As for Shion, she sat at the back and talked with Doll. Doll and her other Pokémon were the only friends she needed anyway.

* * *

"It's nice to meet all of you," Nami said. "Though I suppose I've met most of you already. Anyway, this is the science class."

"What are we studying?" Sunny wondered.

"We're going to start with Pokémon biology," Nami replied. "It also happens to be the science I know the most about."

"I like learning about Pokémon," Darn said.

"Me too," Shion agreed quietly.

"That's good," Nami said. "We'll probably be on this subject for quite a while."

Shion smiled a bit at this. Learning about Pokémon was something she was very interested in. Even Faith seemed to be paying Nami a slight amount of attention as their teacher began to talk about ghost-type Pokémon.

* * *

Nami finished her lesson and walked out of the room after bidding everyone farewell. She waved to someone at the door and continued on.

"Hello everyone!" Pecha said as she walked in.

"Hi Pecha!" Darn replied.

"Hi Darn. This is history class." Pecha said.

"History? Why are you teaching history?" Darn wondered.

"Well, I haven't been able to talk anyone into teaching history full time yet," Pecha replied. "I'm filling in for today, it'll probably be someone else tomorrow."

"Isn't switching teachers going to be confusing?" Sunny wondered.

"Hopefully I'll talk someone into teaching full time soon," Pecha said. "Either way, I'm not teaching this class for long. I don't know a whole lot about history honestly, so we'll just have to study some books. It'll be boring, but at least it'll be easy."

"I like easy," Sunny said.

"Can't we just sit here and talk about other things?" Hibi asked.

"Yeah sure," Pecha agreed. "I have these books for you to read, so as long as you finish these you can do whatever you want. Until we get a real teacher anyway." Pecha began handing the books out.

"When do you want us to have these read by?" Darn wondered flipping idly through one. They weren't very long so it shouldn't take all that long to finish.

"Probably the end of next week," Pecha said. "And don't worry Faith, I don't expect you to read these." The girl hadn't seemed bothered at all, but she nodded in acknowledgment anyway.

"Does she not have to do the class then?" Sunny asked.

"I can get Zap or one of the others teacher's partners to read them to her," Pecha said.

"Does Zap like to read?" Sunny asked, picturing the Luxray with a book between her paws and turning the pages with its mouth. He began giggling at the image.

"She likes listening to me read," Pecha replied. "I'll probably end up getting Yuki to do read it." Darn recalled Yuki was the Frosslass partner of Nami.

"But the other Pokémon can't talk directly to Faith right?" Hibi asked.

"Psychic Pokémon can and for the others Banette can translate," Pecha explained.

That topic apparently resolved, the rest of the class as spent either talking or reading.

* * *

History class came to an end, and it was lunch time. The students filed out, leaving Pecha alone in the room or so she thought. When she looked up, Faith was stand in front of her. "Oh hi Faith," Pecha said.

"Pecha," Faith replied. "Have you heard from Sky?"

The girl's voice was a bit rough from disuse, and her words were less clear then the words of those who spoke regularly. It wasn't at all hard to understand her words though. "Sky?" Pecha couldn't quite keep back the slight shudder the thought of the assassin sent through her. Sky hadn't tried to kill her again and Pecha was something like friends with Lucinda, so Pecha had, rather to her distaste, spent some time around Sky. "I'm sure she'll be around," Pecha said. "She promised to come and visit you." Faith nodded and walked out the door. Pecha made an extra note never to make the girl mad. She really didn't want to be on Sky's bad side and doing anything to hurt her sister, well Pecha doubted Sky would forgive something like that.

* * *

Sunny sat down next to Mayday at lunch and gave her a friendly smile. She gave him a flat stare, then began eating. "I saw you going into the woods last night, what were you doing?" Sunny wondered.

"None of your business," Mayday replied.

"But I want to know," a Sunny complained.

"We can't all have the knowledge we'd like to have," Mayday replied. Sunny blinked in confusion.

"She means mind your own business," Darn translated.

"But I want to know," Sunny complained again. "Why won't you tell me?" He continued to try to wheedle the information out of her, and was continually ignored.

"You think she'll break down and tell him?" Hibi wondered.

"She looks pretty determined not to," Darn replied.

"It doesn't look like she's even that bothered," Cerise added. "When Ri bothers Marie, Marie makes this really angry face." She tried to demonstrate it, but on Cerise it just looked funny.

"I don't think you're mean enough to manage that expression," Darn said with a laugh. Lunch passed in a whirl of idle chatter and the students all had to return to their classroom.

* * *

The door swung open, making a loud bang as it hit the wall. Cerise squeaked and hid under her desk. Wyvrn marched in and glared at everyone.

"Hi!" Darn greeted.

"Do you have a death wish?" Sunny hissed at him.

"My name is Wyvrn," Wyvrn said. "This is English class. You will learn proper English."

Faith made what Hibi assumed to be a derogatory gesture at Wyvrn. "I won't respond to those gestures," Wyvrn said.

"She doesn't talk," Mayday replied.

"Then I won't speak to her," Wyvrn said.

"But she doesn't know how to read or write. Isn't this the class where she should learn that?" Sunny asked.

"...I'm sure one of you can teach her," Wyvrn replied.

This was met by a collective shocked silence from the class.

"You're a teacher it's your job to teach," Mayday pointed out.

"I'm delegating responsibility," Wyvrn replied. "Besides teaching her how to read and write will be a good learning experience for one of you."

"None of us are teachers," Sunny protested.

"Neither am I!" Wyvrn countered.

"Yes you are," Mayday refuted.

"...Not by choice," Wyvrn corrected.

"So you're saying that Pecha threatened you into teaching?" Darn asked doubtfully.

"Not her, it was Preston," Wyvrn replied. "Hate that guy," he muttered.

"Isn't he your boss?" Hibi asked.

"Yes. That doesn't mean I have to like him."

"So, you're our teacher but that doesn't mean we have to like you?" Sunny asked.

Wyvrn glared and Sunny shrank backwards, though the smile remained on his face. Wyvrn surveyed the class for a second. "I thought there were supposed to be seven of you," he said.

"Cerise is under the desk," Darn replied.

Wyvrn nodded, as if this weren't strange and didn't mention it again. "So, who's going to teach her?" Wyvrn pointed to Faith.

"We could do it as a class," Darn suggested.

"I suppose that's fine," Wyvrn said. When no one said anything for a few moments, Wyvrn continued. "Well, what are waiting for?" He was met with blank stares. "Fine, I'll start it off." Wyvrn began going over the alphabet, much to everyone's relief.

The class ended signaling the start of the Pokésoul class and everyone ran out of the room as quickly as possible.

* * *

There were seven people in the young class, Cerise went to join Cassie's group, so the others simply made a group of six. Darn wasn't sure if Shion, Mayday and Faith really wanted to be in the group or not, but they didn't complain. Pecha joined them, much to Darn's excitement.

The Pokésouls in the group began channeling their powers, which Darn observed with some interest. "What should we be doing?" Sunny wondered.

"Oh! Right, you and Darn aren't Pokésouls," Pecha remembered. "Well, I don't have a specific plan for today, but ultimately this class is going to double as a self-defense class so you guys can work on that soon."

"We're going to fight?" Darn asked with a grin.

"I'm not quite ready for that yet," Pecha replied. "You can really do whatever you want today. Want to help me grade them?"

Darn grinned, "Absolutely."

"If you're grading me give me a darn good one," Hibi muttered, his voice slightly subdued as his concentration was on the rock armor he was creating in his skin.

"Plus five points for the pun," Sunny said.

"You're giving pun points?" Mayday asked. She was creating some sort of structure in the dirt.

Faith was holding flames in her hands, but they were purple in color and clearly not made of normal fire. The girl herself had also developed a strange sheen, almost as if she were no longer completely tangible.

Shion's efforts were much less noticeable, as her partner was a normal type. Darn could tell she was doing something, but he wasn't certain what exactly it was.

Darn and Pecha chatted most of the time, Pecha stopping to give advice to one of the Pokésouls every so often. Sunny spent his time mostly badgering Mayday, much to Darn's amusement.

* * *

Leo eagerly walked back inside and headed for the classroom. The art class was being held in the same room as the younger students classroom. He was the first to arrive and chose a seat right up front.

Faye came in a few minutes later and gave him a broad smile. "Hi Leo!" She said. She sat next to him. Mira was next in followed by her Gardevoir.

"Hello you two," Mira greeted. "Leo and Faye, right?"

"That's right!" Faye said. "Are we the only two students?" She looked around at the still mostly empty room.

"No, there's one more," Mira replied. The door opened and a young girl walked in. "You must be Faith," Mira said to her. Faith ignored the greeting and chose a seat near the back. "Why don't you sit up here? There's only three of you." There was no response.

"What's her problem?" Faye wondered.

"She doesn't really talk to people," Mira replied. "But that's okay, art is a language where you don't need words to express yourself."

"That's right!" Faye agreed.

"So, since there's only three of you I don't see much point in having any formal plans. I'd prefer for you all to focus on whatever you like the most," Mira said.

"Music for me," Leo replied immediately. "Though I like other arts as well."

"I'd like to focus on music as well," Faye said. "I love singing."

"You can be the singer then!" Leo said.

"Singer in what?" Faye wondered.

"I'm going to make a student band here. I've got you and Jean Luc now."

"Jean Luc agreed?" Faye asked.

"Well, not in so many words, but I know he'll be a part of it."

"Sounds fun to me!" Faye agreed.

"What about you Faith?" Mira asked the still silent girl. "What would you like to do? Music? Painting? Drawing?" Mira paused after the last one. "You want to draw?" Faith still hadn't made any sort of gesture so Faye wasn't sure what Mira was reacting to.

Mira pulled out some papers and pencils and brought them back to Faith. She took them and began to draw, so Mira must have guessed correctly.

"How did you know what she wanted to do?" Faye wondered.

"When I mentioned drawing she gave off a happier feeling then the other suggestions," Mira replied.

"You can use your psychic Pokésoul powers to feel emotions?" Faye wondered.

Mira nodded. "Only if I'm trying though, normally I'm as oblivious as anyone else," Mira explained.

"It's like how I can use Oshawott's power to breathe underwater," Leo mused.

"Does that mean that she can walk through walls?" Faye wondered, looking at Faith's Banette.

"Probably," Mira replied. "I've used Kira's teleport move before."

"Really?" Leo asked impressed.

"Yep. But enough about that, we should get to work on what you're all here for, art! So what do you two want to do?"

"You're not going to tell us what to do?" Faye wondered.

"Well, there's only two of you so you might as well work on what you want to work on," Mira said. "You're both interested in music, right? Should we start with some music theory?"

"Sounds good to me," Faye replied.

"Fine with me," Leo agreed.

The class was spent with Faith quietly drawing in the back while the trio at the front talked about songwriting.

Leo could safely say at the end, that it was his favorite class by far.

* * *

 _Back at the beginning of the elective period_

Marie and Ash walked back to their classroom, which was where the technology class was being held. Marie decided to just take her same seat and Ash sat down next to her. Colin took the seat behind Ash.

Equinox was the next in and he sat next to Ash, his Kirlia, Celsius, took the seat next to him which Marie found rather odd. She'd never seen a Pokémon sit at a desk before.

When Marie turned around, Shion was sitting in the back corner, when the girl got there, Marie had absolutely no idea.

Roland was the last student, followed by Christopher.

"Hello," Christopher said. "I suppose I'm your technology teacher."

"You _suppose_?" Marie demanded.

"That's what this paper says," Christopher said, waving a sheet of paper at her.

"So do you actually have any lessons planned?" Equinox wondered.

Christopher shrugged. "It can't be that hard."

"Good to see you're putting a lot of care into our classes," Equinox said dryly.

"For those of you who don't have your own laptops, we are going to get some, but they haven't arrived yet," Christopher said. "So we'll work on some other stuff first I guess. Oh, and anyone who brings me wine gets extra-credit," Christopher announced.

"Uh, is that legal?" Ash wondered.

"No," Marie replied. "And I know Pecha wouldn't approve."

"You're going to tell on me?" Christopher asked.

"Yes," Marie replied simply.

"Fine, no wine," Christopher said sadly.

"So... Do you have anything for us to do today?" Equinox prodded.

"Well, that depends on what you want to start with. We can do software or hardware," Christopher replied. "So, let's have a vote. Who wants to start with software?"

Marie and Colin raised their hands. "So then is everyone else for hardware?" Christopher asked.

"I don't care which we start with," Ash replied.

"It doesn't matter to me either," Equinox said.

"Fine, whatever we're starting with software then," Christopher said. "The laptops will be here soon. So we'll have to start on paper." Christopher began explaining the basics of programming and he actually turned out to be an okay teacher once he actually started.

* * *

 ** _Omake_**

That night, in the darkened room of Marie and Ri, or Double M, a Roserade snuck into the window. It greeted Marie cheerfully. _Hi Marie!_ He said.

 _Welcome back Barrett, what do you have for me?_ Marie asked, quietly pulling her files out from her bag.

 _I talked to some of the other Pokémon, and I've got some info for you._ Marie grinned and began to write.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **The omake is my explanation for why Marie learned some stuff about the young class. Barrett talks to the other Pokémon and reports back.**


	8. It Doesn't Help my Manly Image

**Author's Note:**

 **Marie's Blackmail files updated.**

 **So, I put all the under 15 year olds in the young class and the rest were supposed to be split by intelligence, but I got a bit confused because there were 20 year olds, and it felt weird to put 15 year olds above them, and then I kept getting more characters so it ended up being a bit random. Sorry about that.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews as always! I was really busy this week so this chapter's a bit on the short side.**

* * *

Chapter 6: It Doesn't Help my Manly Image

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ , by Mira Lee

 _Liliana Icarus suffered more than most at the hands of Razan. She realized something was wrong with Nature's guardians after she had joined and was encouraged to investigate by Scarlet. Unfortunately, she was discovered and Razan used his psychic powers to brainwash her. Her mind was freed by Starlight, but the experience clearly marked her and Razan's abuse of power on people like Liliana has led to distrust towards Psychic Pokésouls. Being one myself, I know that most wouldn't be able to do what Razan did, the skill and power required to brainwash someone is immense. I understand why people are scared though, the idea that someone could control your mind, it's a scary one._

* * *

Silas woke to the sound of things clattering in the bathroom. He tried to ignore the sound, but it continued. "What are you doing?" He finally called out.

"Fixing my hair," Leo called back. Silas grumbled but sat up. Leo's Oshawott was staring at him, so Silas glared at him. The Oshawott stuck it's tongue out, so Silas threw a pillow at it. Oshawott made an insulted sound from beneath the pillow.

Leo poked his head out and quickly went to his Oshawott's aid. "Leave Oshawott alone," Leo growled at Silas.

"He was glaring at me," Silas replied. Leo threw the pillow at Silas, but Danerabeth caught it. The Blissey smiled and hugged the pillow, making a happy sound and distracting the two boys' from their fight.

"How did someone as abrasive as you get such a cute partner?" Leo wondered.

"It doesn't help my manly image," Silas grumbled. Not that he would ever replace Danerabeth - she was his other half. Sometimes though, he did wish she were a bit less...girly.

Leo went back into the bathroom and the clattering recommenced. What the boy was doing, Silas wasn't sure. His hair was already gelled and he looked perfectly ready to go outside. Leo eventually finished perfecting his look and Silas went to take a shower. By the time both boys were ready, it was already class time and they had to head straight for the classrooms.

* * *

Silas walked to the class labeled, intermediate class and went inside. There were a few people already in there and Silas took a seat at the back, well away from them. There were ten desks in the room, arranged into two rows. Silas sat in the second row in the desk all the way over by the window. For some reason, Leo decided to sit next to him. There were two girls sitting in front of them, Katie and Faye. More students filed in, Jean Luc coming to sit next to Leo and Lance sitting next to him. The row finished off with Roland. The front row filled up with Mari, Equinox and then James.

Nami was sitting at the front of the room and ticking things off on a paper as students came in. "It looks like everyone's here," she said. "Nice to meet all of you," she said. "I'm Nami Salem and I'll be your science teacher."

"Hi Nami!" Mari greeted.

"We're going to start by studying Pokémon," Nami said and started her lecture.

* * *

"Hello everyone," Pecha "This is history class and I am currently your supervisor."

"Supervisor?" James asked.

"Well, it sounds better than temporary substitute teacher," Pecha replied.

"That sounds very temporary," Equinox remarked.

"You couldn't get anyone else to come?" Mari wondered. "Uncle Volke wouldn't do it?"

"Well, I asked him and he glared at me," Pecha replied.

"That sounds like him," Mari laughed.

"Nami and I are working on convincing some of our other friends to come," Pecha assured.

"Who?" Leo wondered.

"Blake specifically," Pecha replied. "Everyone else I talk to I just sort of mention that I could use help."

"So what are we doing in this class?" Faye asked.

"I have some books for you to read," Pecha replied. "By the time you finish those hopefully someone else will deal with this class."

"We have to read?" Silas complained.

"They're pretty short," Pecha consoled. She began passing out the books. "So read those at some point. That's really all I have for you today."

"Class is over?" Leo wondered.

"Nami had a lot more for us to do," Faye commented.

"Yeah, she's better prepared than me," Pecha said. Pecha let them talk amongst themselves as she scribbled something in a notebook.

"We're the only three girls huh?" Faye asked, looking at Katie and Mari.

"Looks like it," Mari agreed. "Too bad we don't have names that go well together. Coming up with a team name will be harder than with Mariririe."

"I thought it was Triple M," Faye replied.

"I'm having trouble deciding," Mari explained.

Faye turned around to to see the people behind them. "Hi guys!" She said. "Leo, Silas, and Jean Luc, right?"

"That's right," Leo replied.

"Hello!" Mari said. Jean Luc seemed startled by her loud greeting and Alyssa was as well. This drew Mari's attention. "Wow! A Meloetta!"

"Um, yes. This is Alyssa," Jean Luc replied.

"She's beautiful," Katie said.

"Yeah," Faye agreed.

"Danerabeth is better," Silas grumbled.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Faye asked. "Dan her a Beth?"

"Danerabeth," Silas corrected.

"What's a Danerabeth?" Mari wondered.

"She's Danerabeth," Silas replied, gesturing to the Blissey sitting at his side.

"Oh, interesting name," Leo said.

"My sisters talked me into it," Silas sighed. "They're names are Danielle, Erica and Elizabeth."

"So they combined their names and named her that?" Mari asked.

"Yeah," Silas replied. Danerabeth had been posing for the audience.

"She's so cute!" Faye exclaimed.

"She really is," Katie agreed.

Silas was clearly irritated at this and glared at everyone. "You don't like her being cute?" Leo wondered.

"Stop encouraging her," Silas grumbled as the Blissey happily waved at everyone.

"Hey, that naming scheme though, we can name ourselves using that!" Mari said.

"Do we need a name?" Katie wondered.

"Of course we do!" Mari replied. "We can be... Faymartie! Or Karitie. Makafaye?

"Those sound really weird," Faye said.

"I'll keep working on it," Mari assured.

* * *

"Sit down!" Wyvrn commanded as he walked into the room. Everyone was, of course, already seated.

"Uh, we are," James finally pointed out.

"She's not," Wyvrn said pointing at Pecha.

"I'm your boss," Pecha replied, her eyes narrowing at him.

"...Don't you have another class to be at?" Wyvrn asked.

"Unfortunately yes. I'll see all of you later. And Wyvrn, if I get too many complaints I'll have to report to Preston." Pecha walked off and Wyvrn glared after her.

"You had better not complain," Wyvrn grumbled to the class.

"We will if you suck at teaching," Mari replied. Wyvrn glared at her, but the girl was unaffected. "You're not nearly as scary as uncle Volke," Mari said cheerfully.

"Volke's your uncle?" Wyvrn asked, the glare dropping from his face. "He's an okay man. He understands the beauty of silence."

"That probably just means he has nothing to say to you," Mari replied.

The glare returned. "Enough about Volke," Wyvrn said. "This is English class."

"I already know English," James pointed out.

"So you know every word in the English language?" Wyvrn demanded.

"I don't," Roland offered.

"See!" Wyvrn said, even though James hadn't actually replied. "There are still many things for you to learn."

"And _you're_ going to teach us?" Lance asked.

"You doubt me?" Wyvrn asked.

"Yep," Mari replied instantly.

"If you're all so great at English, write me an essay right now!" Wyvrn demanded.

"About what?" Equinox wondered.

"Do I have to do all your thinking for you?" Wyvrn countered.

"So... Whatever we want then?" Faye asked. The answer she received was a glare. Faye quieted and began writing on the paper that had appeared on her desk at some point.

The class passed in a whirl of frantic pencil scratching and Wyvrn took the papers at the end as all the students scurried off to lunch.

He almost immediately regretted not giving them a topic. Leo and Jean Luc had both written about music and Wyvrn was not at all familiar enough with the subject to entirely understand what either had written. Faye's essay was about the best places to shop in Lumiose while Silas wrote a paper about how unfair it was that he was mistaken for a girl so often. Equinox's essay was about fighting, Mari's about magic, Lance wrote about finding adventures and James's was about his favorite superhero. Roland's seemed to be a stream of thought essay with no particular topic that Wyvrn could discern. Katie had actually written a book report type essay about a book she'd just finished and was the least tedious to read. He made a note next to her name on the sheet, _Not quite as annoying as everyone else._

* * *

"Hello class," River said.

"Give us the quiz already," Silas demanded.

"...what?" River asked with a confused expression.

"Everyone told us that you gave the a quiz," Faye replied.

"On, well I guess I don't have to explain then," River replied. She passed out the papers.

"I didn't talk to anyone from the other classes," James said.

"This is a general knowledge quiz," River explained. "You're not getting graded on it, it's just a way for me to see where you're at."

The room was then filled with the sound of pencils as people scribbled down answers. Mari seemed to take the whole thing as a race, and when she finished first she exclaimed "I won!" And was shushed by several people. Her grin didn't dim in the slightest.

The others finished at around the same time, some faster and some slower but they all seemed to have written something down, and not just fives, much to River's relief.

* * *

Faye grabbed Katie's arm and dragged her over to Cassie's group. "Hey Cassie! Let's group up!" Cassie glared, but Faye seemed to take this as agreement.

Cerise had appeared at some point and was hiding behind Cassie. Katie wasn't entirely sure if Cassie was aware of this or not.

"Are you two in our group?" Katie wondered, looking at Gabriel and Zair.

"I don't care," Zair said with a yawn.

"Can you read my mind?" Gabriel wondered, looking at Hermes, Katie's Gallade partner.

"Um, well I guess so, I don't do that sort of thing," Katie replied. After what had happened to Liliana, Katie had absolutely no interest in messing with people's minds. Even something as passive as reading them.

Gabriel actually looked disappointed, Katie had assumed his question came from fear, but it seemed it may have simply been interest. He confirmed it with his next question. "Could you try?"

Katie shook her head. "I'm not comfortable doing that," Katie said. "Besides, since Hermes is a dual type my psychic powers aren't as strong as if he were a full psychic type."

"Really?" Gabriel asked leaning forward in interest.

"I'll supervise your group," Nami said, which redirected Gabriel's interest much to Katie's relief. "Faye and Gabriel, you're not Pokésouls are you?"

"That's right," Faye replied.

"We'll have something for you to do tomorrow, for now would you mind up just observing?"

"I would love too," Gabriel said.

"Fine with me," Faye replied, sitting down beside Nami. The Pokésouls in the group began practicing and Gabriel took notes as he watched, enraptured.

"So, what's the deal with you and Pokésouls?" Faye finally asked.

"Aren't they fascinating?" Gabriel replied.

"Yeah, I guess, but I certainly don't want to study them."

"My parents were Pokésoul researchers," Gabriel finally said after a few moments.

Faye noted the past tense and decided to drop the topic.

Katie was making some rocks hover in front of her, making them spin slowly in circles. Cassie was creating a small flurry of snowflakes in front of her and Cerise held a small fire in her hands. It appeared to be using the fire part of Lampent rather than the ghost part. Zair was was lazily manipulating a small stream of water.

* * *

Cerise nervously walked into the magic classroom behind Cassie and sat next to the older girl. Darn and Hibi found her and sat next to her. "Hi Cerise," Darn greeted.

"H-hi," Cerise stuttered. Cassie ignored the conversation and continued reading her book.

Mari was the next in, announcing herself with a loud, "Hello!"

"Hi Mari," Hibi greeted. She grinned at him and took the seat in front of him.

"Hey there, you guys excited?"

"Y-yes?" Cerise replied.

"Was that an answer or a question?" Mari asked. Cerise just stared at her wide-eyed.

Darn apparently took pity on her, and spoke. "I don't think anyone's as excited as you," Darn said.

"I do love magic!" Mari agreed.

"I think anyone looking at you can tell," Hibi replied, looking pointedly at the hat and broom.

"What's with the broom anyway?" Darn asked.

"Witches have brooms," Mari replied.

"They do?" Hibi wondered.

The explanation was cut off by the arrival of the teacher. "Hello everyone, I'm Gina," she said. "I'll be teaching you magic."

Katie, James and Zair had entered at some point, Katie sitting next to Mari and James next to her. Zair was next to James.

"Nice to meet you!" Mari exclaimed.

"Nice to meet you too," Gina said with a smile. "I'm assuming you are all at different levels of magic, so I'm going to start with the basics. Even for those of you with some skill going over the basics is always a good refresher. If you find the class too boring you're welcome to look at the more advanced books I have here." She dropped a bag on the desk and began pulling out some books.

They were fairly new looking which led Mari to believe that they must be some of the duplicate versions from the Mage's Guild. The guild had been collecting books and mass producing them to spread knowledge of spells. Spell books not from the guild all seemed to be artifacts, ancient pages and old writing. Mari had a few herself.

Gina took the pile and placed them on bookshelf in the room. "These all have tracking spells on them, so if you steal them I'll be able to track them down," Gina warned.

"That's cool!" Mari said.

Gina then began to explain the basics of magic. She taught them the sigil for the light spell first, being an easy and harmless spell to learn.

Some of the students, Mari and Darn in particular, were already obviously skilled with magic. Cerise had some trouble because she kept stuttering the spell, but when Gina suggested she incant in her head she succeeded easily. James, Hibi and Katie all seemed to have some magic experience, but their spells were a bit less smooth than the other three. Cassie clearly knew nothing about magic, though she managed to get her spell working fairly quickly, even if it did end up looking less brilliant than everyone else's. With Zair it was impossible to tell if he actually was bad or if he simply couldn't be bothered to try. By the end he'd managed to create enough light to imitate a firefly and didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

Despite the simple start, Mari had a blast. She grabbed a few of the books to study in her spare time.

* * *

The elective classes were released and Katie walked back to the dorm with Mari, Cerise and Cassie. "That was a great class!" Mari enthused.

"It was interesting I suppose," Cassie replied.

They walked into the common room to find most of the other girls down there. Faith, Mayday and Shion were absent, but the others were there.

"Double M!" Mari exclaimed.

"Hi Mari!" Ri replied. "How was magic class?"

"Amazing!"

"You guys are all in the magic class?" Faye wondered.

"Yes," Katie replied.

"Are we going to have a video game party like the boys did?" Ash wondered.

"I'm not playing Mario Party," Marie said.

"Seconded," Faye agreed.

"It's almost time for dinner now anyway," Ri pointed out.

"Oh right, I'd forgotten," Mari said.

"Let's go eat," Faye suggested.

* * *

After dinner, Cassie returned to the dorm, not bothering to acknowledge the purple-haired girl following her. They returned to their room and Cassie pulled out some of the books she'd borrowed. "What are you reading?" Cerise wondered.

"I took the more interesting looking books from the room," Cassie replied absentmindedly.

Sometime later, Mari appeared in their doorway with a loud, "Hey!" and ducked the book that was flung at her head. There was a faint _ow_ as someone behind her took the blow.

"What?" Cassie demanded.

"I grabbed all these magic books." Mari lifted her arms to show off the load she was carrying. "I'm going to try out some of the spells, want to join us?"

"Not interested," Cassie replied.

"How about you?" Mari asked Cerise. Cerise stared at Mari in shock and eventually Mari grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her out of the room, taking the silence as an affirmative.

"Ack!" Cerise exclaimed.

Mari dragged the girl down the stairs and into the common room. Most of the other girls were there, Mayday and Cassie being the only two absent. "This is going to be fun," Mari said with a grin as she opened a book.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I wrote these three chapters to give an idea of what the normal days are supposed to be like, from now on I'll be writing about more interesting things that happen to everyone.**


	9. Is Five Good or Bad?

**Author's note.**

 **Sorry this is so short, I had a bad week. Next week should be better.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Is Five Good or Bad?

* * *

Mari began drawing on the floor as the others watched in curiosity. "What spell are you doing?" Faye asked.

"It says it's a magical adventure spell," Mari replied, her tone a bit distant as she was concentrating on her sigil.

"Magical adventure?" Ri repeated. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, that's what makes it exciting," Mari replied.

"And dangerous," Marie pointed out. "Magic isn't safe."

"You don't have to stay," Faye replied.

"Fine, I won't," Marie snapped, getting up and walking to the stairs. However, Mari finished her sigil before the girl could get there and the markings on the ground suddenly lit up. Marie continued walking, but she found she couldn't leave the room anymore. "What did you do?" She demanded.

"I just finished the spell," Mari replied. The light pulsated, then grew enveloping the room. When it cleared, the girls found themselves standing in a darkened room, much emptier than the common room they had been standing in previously.

"What's going on?" Katie asked, looking around nervously.

"The spell worked!" Mari exclaimed.

"And what is this place?" Ash wondered. "It looks like something from a game." They were in a dark room and on one wall was a row of weapons. For some reason, despite the lack of light sources, it was very easy to make out the different weapons and each of the girls.

"I think that's exactly what it is," Mari replied. "The spell is supposed to create an adventure created from the minds of everyone linked in the spell."

"I wasn't thinking about creepy dungeons," Marie said.

"The spell would have ignored what it couldn't use," Mari explained.

"So we created this?" Ri asked.

"Well, the spell had some parameters, but yes. If we try the spell again later, thinking about something else we should get a different scenario."

"That's really cool," Ash said. "This is way better than playing on a TV screen!"

"Magic is awesome!" Mari agreed.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Faye asked.

"Choose a weapon probably," Ri replied, pointing to the weapons.

"I don't know how to use any of these," Katie said.

"I-I don't either..." Cerise agreed.

"None of its real," Mari replied. "You don't need actual skill!" She walked over to the display and picked up a sword. Labels and numbers appeared in the air beside her hand. At the top were major attributes, and underneath that was a list of skills. Sword was highlighted and beside it was written a number five.

"Five again," Marie muttered.

"Is five good or bad?" Katie asked.

"Depends on what it's out of," Ash replied. She picked up a sword and found that her own sword skill was twenty. "Probably bad," she amended. Ash looked at her stats curiously and found most of her stats were average, her intelligence however, was extremely high.

Ri walked down the row and picked up a bow. Marie looked over her shoulder at the numbers that appeared. "This game is wrong," Marie said. "It says her charisma is high, that's a lie!"

"Just because you don't appreciate my charms doesn't mean no one does," Ri replied with a winning smile. Marie gave her a grossed out look and picked up a short sword. "My charisma is higher than yours," Ri said with a bigger grin.

"But according to this I'm smarter than you," Marie retorted.

"And Ash is smarter than both of us," Ri replied.

Faith walked up next to Marie and picked up a couple daggers. Marie caught a glimpse of the numbers and did a double take. "Her speed and agility are almost a hundred, that's the max, isn't it?" She said.

"It should be," Ri replied, trying to look at the small girl's stats, but she'd walked away. Once a person walked away from the row of weapons, the numbers faded away.

"My magic skill is very high," Mari bragged. She'd ditched the sword and was now holding a staff. Katie had chosen one of those as well, though she held it much less confidently. "Katie's isn't bad either," she added. Katie looked a bit embarrassed at the praise.

"Well, let's see what my stats are," Faye said. She picked up s sword and looked at the numbers. "High charisma and mercantile skill," she said. She saw Shion holding a short sword and addressed her. "How about you?" Shion startled and looked up.

"High agility," she said.

"Cerise?" Faye asked. The purple haired girl was looking at the bows and bumped into one when her name was called. One of them fell and she fumbled with it before managing to get a grip.

The numbers appeared and Ri looked over her shoulder at them. "What does that mean?" Ri wondered.

"What?" Marie asked. Cerise jumped backwards and the numbers faded. "What was it?" Marie demanded.

"N-nothing!" Cerise said.

Ri was certain she'd seen something. She didn't know what it meant, but at the top of her ability page it had said something about a special power. Unfortunately Cerise had moved before she could read the whole thing. "It was nothing," Ri replied. "I was just surprised at how low her charisma score was," Ri added with a laugh. She'd keep Cerise's secret for now. Ri would just keep it in mind for if she ever needed anything from the shy girl. Knowledge is power, that was something Ri was sure Marie would agree with her on.

Marie glared at her, but dropped the subject. "Well, we all have weapons. Now what?"

The room suddenly brightened and the weapon rack disappeared. As did the walls.

"Choose a partner!" A booming voice said. Cerise squeaked in surprise and grabbed onto Ri. "Team one!" The voice announced and purple letters floated above Ri and Cerise labeling them as such.

Ri looked up at the letters. "Huh," she said. "not what I was expecting to happen."

"Team two!" The voice declared, letters forming above Faye and Katie.

"There are five of us left," Marie pointed out.

"One team of three is permitted!" The booming voice said.

"That's creepy," Marie said. Mari dragged Ash over to Marie forming team three, which left Shion and Faith as team four.

Walls formed around them, and ground underneath leaving them in a colosseum. There was a scoreboard on the side with all four teams listed. "We have to fight each other?" Katie said, looking a bit disturbed.

"That's what usually happens in games," Ash replied.

"Don't worry Katie, I'll do the fighting and you can be my backup," Faye said. Katie nodded.

"Time for the first game!" The announcer said. "Break the targets!"

In front of the girls pots, bottles, and other breakable objects appeared. They all had different numbers written on them.

"What's going on?" Cerise squeaked.

"Based on what the voice said, we break them," Marie replied a bit sarcastically.

"Correct!" The voice said. "Begin!" As he said the word begin, the targets abruptly began moving, some slowly and some zipping all over the place.

"What?" Marie said, looked a bit taken aback at the sudden change. Faith had begun throwing daggers immediately having a seemingly unending supply. She was scarily accurate with them, though some of that had to do with the magic which, as Ri noted when she shot an arrow, was assisting their skills. Ri had never fired an arrow in real life, but here in the magic realm it was rather simple. Something she was pretty sure wasn't true in reality. Ri missed her first few shots, but got the hang of it fairly quickly, moving to faster targets as she became more comfortable. Cerise was shooting as well, though her nerves kept sending her shots off target.

Marie was completely refusing to play and was instead observing everyone else with a sour look on her face. Mari happily blasted targets with bolts of fire from her staff and Ash was running around hitting things with her sword. Those two, and surprisingly, Faith seemed to be the most into the game.

Shion and Katie both seemed baffled at the whole thing, though they participated. Faye started slow, but she got into eventually and began smashing pots with zeal.

Eventually the last pot was destroyed by a knife thrown by Faith.

"Game!" The voice yelled. Ri looked over to the board to see totals being tallied up.

Mari and Ash (and technically Marie) had won, though Faith and Shion had come very close. "Team Three wins!" The announcer said.

"Yeah!" Mari exclaimed.

"We won!" Ash yelled.

"Yay," Marie said, deadpan.

The other two teams were pretty close, though Ri and Cerise came out on top.

"Is there another game?" Mari asked excitedly.

"No," Marie said. "We've been here for a while now and it was already late when you trapped us in here."

"She does have a point," Katie said. "We have school tomorrow."

"Fine..." Mari sighed. "Spell end!" She yelled. The whole world rippled and faded. "See you later!" The announcers voice said as everything faded.

Ri woke on the floor of the common room. Clef was staring at her and the Clefairy lit up when Ri's eyes opened. _You're awake!_ Clef exclaimed.

 _Yeah, was I here the whole time?_ Ri wondered.

 _Nope, you all vanished into the spell. Then you showed up again about an hour later. You've all been laying here for a while now_ , Clef reported.

Mari jolted awake and sat up. "That was fun!" She exclaimed, waking most of the others. Faith was already gone, she must've woken before Ri.

"So loud," Marie complained.

"That was fun," Ash said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "We should do it again. Maybe on a weekend so we don't have to stop."

"I can make a cooler one too," Mari promised. "This one was with no prep time!"

"Whatever," Marie said, getting up and walking to the stairs.

* * *

"Please?" Leo begged.

Allison wasn't sure who he was talking to, so she decided to check it out. She walked around the corner to find Leo in his knees, holding Jean Luc's hand and begging. _...That must not be what it looks like,_ Allison said. _Because it looks like Leo's proposing to Jean Luc._

 _Maybe he is. They're kind of cute together,_ Virizion remarked.

 _But, they've only known each other for a day!_

"Please join the band!" Leo said.

 _Ah, that's what it is_ , Allison realized.

Leo noticed the company and looked at Allison. "Hey Lance, do you play an instrument?"

"Nope," Allison replied. She backed away a bit anyway, she'd rather not have Leo hanging off of her. Jean Luc gave her a helpless look and Allison felt her sense of justice being evoked. "Maybe some of the others do," Allison said. "You should ask them."

"Good idea!" Leo said. "I'm still counting on you to join!" He called back to Jean Luc.

He ran off and Jean Luc sighed.

"Well, I tried," Allison said.

"Thank you," Jean Luc said. "He is a bit...exuberant.

"Yeah, I don't think he's going to give up anytime soon. It might be easier just to join the band."

"I do like music," Jean Luc said. "But, I'm not... I don't play in front of other people."

"Well don't let Leo make you do anything you're not comfortable with," Allison replied. "If he tries to bully you into anything, just let me know! I'll get my sword." She grinned at him.

"Sword?" Jean Luc repeated.

"Yeah, I like sword fighting," Allison replied. She had picked it up as a way of getting stronger, then decided she really enjoyed it. Plus it added to her manly image.

"You don't use lances?" Hibi asked. "Lance the lancer sounds better than Lance the swordsman."

Allison hadn't noticed Hibi enter the room and turned to see the boy standing at the door watching them. "Sorry, no lances," Allison replied. "Swords are more my thing."

"But the puntential," Hibi sighed.

"Puntential?" Jean Luc repeated.

"Pun master Hibi," Allison said in explanation.

Hibi bowed. "That's me."

* * *

Leo opened a door and found Zair, Hunter and Colin. Zair and Hunter were playing a video game and Colin was sitting at his laptop, they all looked over when Leo opened the door. "Do any of you play instruments?" He asked.

"No," Hunter replied. Colin shook his head and Zair didn't bother responding.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked.

"Yep," Hunter said, resuming the game.

"Darn," Leo sighed.

"What can I do for you?" Darn asked. Leo whirled around in surprise to find Darn standing bend him.

"When did you get there?" Leo wondered.

"Just now. Weren't you talking to me?"

"He was saying the word darn, not the name," Hunter explained.

"Oh," Darn said, deflating a bit.

"Do you play any instruments?" Leo asked.

"Nope, sorry," Darn replied. "Hibi plays violin."

"He does?" Leo asked, brightening. Darn nodded.

"Alright! He will join the band!"

"How many members is that?" Darn asked.

"Four. Jean Luc, Faye, Hibi and me," Leo replied.

"Of course some of those people haven't agreed yet," Hunter pointed out.

"They will!" Leo asserted.

"Good luck," Zair said apathetically.

"Thank you!" Leo replied.

* * *

Sunny was on a walk outside and saw Mayday heading for the forest. He followed. "What are you doing?" He asked.

She sent him a glare over her shoulder and walked faster. Sunny sped up accordingly. "Stop following me," she commanded.

"I want to know what you're doing," Sunny replied.

"I'm busy," Mayday replied.

"Doing what?"

"Training."

"For what?" Mayday let out a long sigh. "Survival training," she said finally. "You never know what might happen and you'll have to survive on your own."

"That's true," Sunny agreed, his expression strangely serious. "I had to fend for myself for awhile. I wasn't alone though, my sister Amber was there. And it wasn't

in the woods."

"Really?" Mayday asked. "You have survival skills too?"

Sunny wouldn't have really classified them as that, but he supposed they were. "Yup," he replied.

"...Then you may join my training."

"Really!?" Sunny asked excitedly. He wasn't sure what it was about the girl, but he found her interesting. He happily walked into the woods after her.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Allison/Lance is referred to as Allison in that's one section since its from her perspective, hopefully that's not confusing.**


	10. Respect is Lame

**Author's Note:**

 **I'm getting really busy, and it's probably not going to get better anytime soon, so the chapters are probably going to be shortish. I'll still try to update every week, but I think Sunday will be my normal day now, but the chapters won't be as long as the first ones were. I hope you're all okay with that!**

 **This chapter takes place from the point of view of a Pokémonas such Pokélanguage has been conveniently translated into English for you and will be written using normal "". Mental talk will still be in _italics_.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Respect is Lame

* * *

The sun's early morning rays filtered in through the window, caressing the green stems of Barrett's arms and energizing him. He stretched out towards the sun and opened his eyes. Marie was still asleep, no doubt tired from the spell that Mari had cast, but Ri and Clef were awake.

"Good morning!" Barrett said, hopping off the window and walking over to Clef.

"Morning Barrett!" Clef replied. "Have any plans for today?"

"I was going to talk to some of the other Pokémon, want to come?"

"Yeah!" Clef exclaimed, hopping down from the bed and joining Barrett.

"Have fun," Ri said absentmindedly as she read her book.

"We will!" Clef assured. Barrett opened the door (though that was somewhat difficult with flowers for hands - luckily he had a lot of practice) and Clef bolted through. He pulled the door shut and looked around the hallway. The light under Glaceon and Lampent's door was on, but that was probably Cassie working, so Barrett decided not to bother them.

"I wonder who's awake?" Clef wondered as the Clefairy wandered about the hallway.

"What are you doing?" The voice came from above and Barrett looked up. A Banette was hanging half through the wall looking at them curiously.

"You're Faith's partner," Barrett assumed.

"That I am," Banette replied.

"You're more talkative than her," Clef said.

"Astute," Banette commented dryly.

"Thank you!" Clef exclaimed.

Barrett wondered if Ri got her annoying cheerful personality from Clef or if it was the other way around.

"So, what are you doing?" Banette asked again.

"Exploring!" Clef announced. "Right?"

Barrett shrugged. "Basically," he agreed.

"That sounds fun. I'm in," Banette said as he fully phased through the wall and came to float just above them.

"Yay! More company!" Clef exclaimed. "Let's go explore!"

Barrett felt a sudden stab of sympathy for Marie. Maybe he'd be more sympathetic next time she complained about Ri.

By unspoken agreement, the three Pokémon went downstairs. Yuki was floating lazily around Nami's head and noticed the three Pokémon. "Hello," she said quietly.

"Hi!" Clef greeted. "We're going exploring!"

"Have fun," Yuki said. "And don't wander too far."

"We won't," Barrett assured. All the interested things were at the school anyway. Though he wouldn't be surprised if Clef started following a Butterfree and ended up in another region.

It was still pretty early and there weren't very many Pokémon or people around. They ended up at the lake and found Sky the Lapras with Zair lying on her back. "Hello there," she greeted, her voice calming and maternal.

"Hello!" Clef said.

"Is he asleep?" Barrett wondered, looking at Sky's Pokésoul.

"Yes, he was stargazing and seems to have drifted off," Sky replied, her voice very affectionate.

Banette cackled and glided over to Zair. He hovered right above his face and gave Zair his widest grin.

"What are you doing?" Sky demanded, looking over her shoulder at the Banette. Unfortunately for Zair, Sky's exclamation woke him, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Banette's wide grin.

"Ah!" He shouted, jerking the side. He lost his balance and flailed his arms trying to stay on Sky's back, but he failed and landed in the water with a loud splash.

"Zair!" Sky called. She stuck her head in the water looking for him and surfaced a moment later with Zair clinging to her head. She dragged him to the edge of the lake as he spluttered and coughed. He crawled up on the shore and glared at Banette.

"Stupid ghost," he complained. "I was having a really nice nap."

Banette cackled again, clearly unrepentant. "I was expecting you to be more reserved," Barrett commented. "Based on Faith."

"She just knows she's better than everyone else," Banette replied. "No reason to talk to the peasants."

"Marie is not a peasant!" Barrett retorted.

"Ri wouldn't mind being called a peasant," Clef commented.

"She wouldn't?" Barrett asked.

"Hmmm?" Clef had already been distracted by splashing in the water.

"Never mind," Barrett said. Zair was shaking his hair out and he stomped off towards the boys' dorm.

"Poor Zair," Sky sighed.

Barrett walked off, looking for more Pokémon to talk to. Clef was following, though her following was more running from distracting thing to other distracting thing. Banette watched Clef with an air of amusement. "She's easily distracted," Banette commented.

"Hey there!" Barrett turned to the voice to see Equinox and his Kirlia Celsius walking past. Celsius was the one who had spoken.

"Hi," Barrett replied. "Where are you guys going?"

"Food!" Celsius replied.

"We are going to the cafeteria," Annabeth, James's partner agreed. The Audino and her Pokésoul were walking beside Equinox.

"So the boy humans didn't stay up all night playing Mario again?" Barrett wondered.

Annabeth stopped to talk, but Celsius and the two humans continued on.

"Mario? James certainly didn't play any, I don't know about the others," Annabeth replied.

"The night before they played Mario Party all night," Barrett explained.

"They were all super tired!" Clef added.

Annabeth looked towards the cafeteria. "James is calling, I'll see you later," she said and hurried over to her Pokésoul.

"Where should we go now?" Clef asked.

Banette floated over to the boys' dorm and stuck his head through one of the walls.

"What are you doing?" Asked an older female voice. A Luxray was staring at them. Barrett recognized the Pokémon immediately as Zap, Pecha's partner, mostly because of all the tv shoes Marie had watched about her favorite heroes.

"Wandering," Barrett replied.

Zap didn't actually seem all that interested and gave a bit of a shrug and yawned. "Okay then," she said.

"Hey Zap!" Pecha called out. Zap turned towards the headmistress and began walking.

"Behave yourselves," the Luxray commanded as she left.

"It's almost like she doesn't trust us," Clef said in surprise.

"She shouldn't," Banette said, mischief in his tone.

"Why not?" Clef wondered looking up at the Banette. Her only answer was a large grin, which disturbed Barrett somewhat, but seemed to have no impact on Clef. A boy came stomping out of the boys' dorm and glared at them. It was Silas.

"You!" He yelled pointing at the Banette. "Stop sticking your head through the wall! It's creepy and weird."

"Well that was mean," Banette said.

"I don't understand you but that didn't sound apologetic!" Silas accused. Danerabeth appeared next to him and waved at the Pokémon.

"Please stay out of our room," she said politely. "Silas and Leo don't appreciate you barging in."

"But what's the fun of respecting privacy?" Banette wondered.

"That's a good point," Barrett agreed.

"It is?" Clef wondered.

"It's not supposed to be fun, it's respectful," Danerabeth said.

Banette stuck his tongue out. "Respect is lame," he said.

"You're a bad Pokémon," Silas said. "Bad Banette!"

"You probably don't want to say that to a ghost type," Danerabeth murmured.

"She's right," Banette agreed. "I can make his life very miserable. What does he like the most?" The ghost wondered.

"I'm not helping you torment him!" Danerabeth exclaimed.

"That's too bad," Banette sighed.

"Let's go talk to someone else," Barrett suggested, edging away from the confrontation.

"Who?" Clef asked.

Barrett shrugged and opened the door to the boys' dorm. "Let's just see who's around," he replied.

No one was standing in the hallway so Barrett headed for he steps. There were some angry shouts coming from Leo's room, something to do with Banette probably. Barrett ignored this and walked up to the second floor. It was louder here and Barrett followed the sounds to the common room.

Lance was sitting on a couch next to Jean Luc and Alyssa floated over his head.

"Hello there!" Barrett greeted. Alyssa gave a squeak of surprise and hid behind Jean Luc. She peeked from around his head.

"Is she shy?" Clef wondered, not bothering to keep her voice down.

Jean Luc's attention was drawn by his partner and he looked at the new arrivals. Lance turned as well. "Hi there," he said. "What are you two doing here?"

"Talking to people," Barrett replied, even though Lance wouldn't be able to understand. Virizion wasn't around to translate either, the large Pokémon didn't really fit inside very well.

"Um, well, hi," Alyssa said.

"Hi!" Clef replied.

"Hello," Banette said, having phased through the wall and snuck up on Alyssa. She and Jean Luc both jolted in surprise and he was only saved from falling off the couch by Lance's quick grip on his arm.

"Thanks," Jean Luc said.

Lance nodded and glared at the Banette. "That wasn't nice," he said.

"All the humans are going to hate you at this rate," Clef mused. Barrett gave her a sideways glance, but the Clefairy still had that childish look on her face.

"I don't care about any of them," Bannette said with a shrug. "Faith's the only one that matters."

"Osha!" The Pokémon all turned towards the voice to see Leo's Oshawott standing in the doorway.

"Did he really just say 'osha'? Barrett asked.

"That's what I heard," Clef replied. "Do I not understand other Pokémon anymore?"

"You understand me so that's obviously not it," Barrett pointed out.

"Oh! You're right!" Barrett sighed and turned his attention to the Oshawott.

"So, why are you saying your name?" Barrett asked.

"I just didn't want the humans to feel left out," Oshawott replied. "Isn't that great of me?"

"Uh, sure," Barrett replied.

"Hey up there, nice trick," Oshawott said.

"You liked it?" Banette asked.

"Yeah! If I could move through walls I'd do that kind of thing too!"

"Really, it seemed mean," Clef mused. "Should I start being mean too?" She looked to Barrett who gave her an incredulous look.

"Uh, no," he replied.

"Alright," Clef said easily and began wandering the room.

"She's weird," Banette noted.

"So are you," Barrett countered, though he agreed with Banette's assertion.

"All of us are totally normal compared to the humans," Oshawott remarked.

"Hey! Don't say that about Jean Luc!" Alyssa protested, though it was rather quiet and less than forceful.

Lance was looking between all the Pokémon, a perplexed look on his face. "Alright," he finally said. "I feel left out so I'm going."

"I'm going with you!" Jean Luc blurted, following Lance out.

"Bye," Alyssa murmured as she followed her Pokésoul out.

"Aw," Oshawott complained. "Who do we bother now?"

"There are a lot of other Pokémon," Banette replied as he phased through one of the walls.

"I'd like to be able to do that," Clef mused.

"Me too," Barrett agreed.

"I'm going to try!" The Clefairy announced.

"Wait - what?" Barrett said but Clef had already jumped at a wall. Unsurprisingly, she bounced off.

"Ow," Clef complained.

Barrett decided he needed to be somewhere else. Maybe somewhere Clef wouldn't follow him.

* * *

 _Ugh, what time is it?_ Marie wondered, her mental voice tired and unhappy.

Barrett looked around, but he didn't see a clock. _No idea_ , he replied.

 _Where are you anyway?_ Marie asked.

Barrett sent her an image of his surroundings and said, _The boys' dorm._

 _Huh. Well have fun._

 _I will!_ The connection went dormant and Barrett continued on his way.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry I didn't get to all the Pokémon, I'll probably do another one later on about the rest of them.**


	11. Treasure?

**Author's Note:**

 **Marie's Blackmail Files updated**

 **As always, thanks for all the reviews! They really make me happy ^^**

* * *

Chapter 9: Treasure?

* * *

Equinox stood in the center of the clearing, arms crossed and looking around. Celsius copied the gesture, though it looked more cute than intimidating on the Kirlia.

 _Where is everyone?_ Equinox wondered.

 _Dunno_ , Celsius replied. _We should try one of the buildings_. Equinox nodded in agreement. They'd come from the boys' dorm, but no one was in the common room so they headed for the girls' dorm.

There were a few people in the common room and Equinox grinned. He hadn't had a chance to speak to many of the girls for very long, but he knew who they all were at this point. Shion was curled up in a chair in the corner with her Eevee, but Equinox decided not to bother her. He'd noticed that she was rather quiet and he didn't want to scare her.

The other two occupants of the room were more promising. Mayday was sitting at one of the tables reading something, probably one of the assigned books, and Ash was at another table clicking around on her laptop. Ash was also the only one who acknowledged Equinox's presence.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello," Equinox replied.

 _Hi!_ He heard Celsius exclaim to Ash. The girl blinked in surprise and stared at the psychic type.

"Uh, hi?" She repeated.

"Celsius likes to talk to people," Equinox explained. "What are you doing? Want to fight?"

"Fight?" Ash said. "Uh, not really. Why? Did I do something offensive?" She looked concerned so Equinox quickly reassured her.

"Not at all. I'm just bored and I haven't fought anyone since I got here."

"Well Pixie's asleep," Ash said. "Maybe another time?" Though it was clear from her voice she didn't want to.

"Fine," Equionx sighed. He looked at Mayday. "How about you?" He asked.

The girl flipped her page and continued reading. _Hey!_ Celsius exclaimed.

Mayday glanced up. "What?" She asked.

"Want to fight?" Equinox asked.

She studied him. "Okay," she said finally, surprising Equinox.

"Really? Awesome!" Equinox and Celsius grinned at each other and ran outside. Mayday followed at a much more reasonable pace. The stood facing each other in the clearing and just as Equinox was about to ask where her partner was, the giant boulder started moving.

 _Oh yeah, she's a Rhyperior Pokésoul,_ Celsius remembered.

Equinox watched as the Pokémon stood and towered over Mayday and himself. _That's a bit intimidating_ , he admitted.

 _We can take him!_ Celsius asserted.

 _I never said we couldn't_ , Equinox replied with a grin. Mayday and Gladius, her Rhyperior, were looking at each other in the way Equinox knew meant they were conversing. The moment ended and the Pokésoul partners turned to stare at him. He'd honestly been assuming that this would be an easy win, but the longer he observed Mayday the less sure of that he was. He didn't doubt himself of course, but the girl would probably put up more of a fight than he anticipated.

* * *

"She's gonna rock this fight," Hibi said, watching Equinox and Mayday start their battle.

"Going to smash him into the ground?" Darn asked.

"Maybe not if he psychs himself up!"

"More puns, really?" The dry voice came from Marie.

"Hi Marie," Darn said. She nodded at him.

"Where's Mariri?" Hibi asked.

"I don't know," Marie replied.

"It's okay to miss them," Darn said.

"I don't miss them!" Marie retorted.

"But you sounded sad," Hibi replied.

"Because I don't want to be in a group with those two weirdos!" Marie yelled.

"It's too late for that," Darn replied.

"He's right," Faye agreed, having shown up during their conversation. "You already have a group name."

"You could try to find someone else named Marie to replace you," Hibi suggested.

"Then it would become Quadruple M," Darn replied.

Marie made an unhappy sound and walked off. "I think we made her mad," Hibi mused.

They watched as the girl stomped off, nearly running over Cerise who dove out of the way in terror. Darn and Hibi exchanged a look, then went to help their terrified friend.

"You okay?" Hibi asked.

Cerise moved her hands away from her face to look up at him. She nodded. "Y-yes! I was just... Uh..."

"Taking a break?" Darn suggested.

"Studying the grass?" Hibi asked.

"Y-yeah! Those things," Cerise agreed, getting to her feet and brushing off her dress. "Um, what are they doing?" Cerise wondered, looking over at Equinox and Mayday who were still fighting.

"Sparring I think," Darn replied.

"That looks scary," Cerise mused.

"They've been at it for a while now," Hibi said. "I would have stopped a long time ago."

"Me too," Cerise agreed. "I don't like fighting." The three watched the fight for a while longer, then went to get some lunch.

* * *

 _That night_

The school was asleep, it's guard was down. Now was the time to strike. The small figure swung silently down from his perch on the roof of the cafeteria, landing lightly on his feet. A large form followed, hovering behind him. The two exchanged a glance, then they snuck over to the building across the way. It was dark inside, and he carefully opened the door. It wasn't locked. They were much too trusting.

Do you think there will be anything of value here? The hovering creature wondered as the boy slipped inside. The larger being waited outside, keeping watch.

Rumor is this was a raider base before it was a school, the boy replied. This building was the vault. There must be something here.

He poked around the room, carefully examining the walls and the floors, knowing that they'd be the most likely places for treasure to be hiding. This would take a while.

* * *

Nami woke, her eyes flying open. A quick glance at her clock told her it was very early, much too early to be awake. She didn't usually wake up in the middle of the night, so she was immediately uneasy. There was no evidence of anything being wrong, but she got up anyway, trusting her instincts. Her unease drew Yuki's attention and the Frosslass woke as well.

 _Is something wrong?_ Yuki asked.

 _Maybe_ , Nami replied vaguely. She got out of bed and put a coat on over her pajamas. It was more for appearances than actual worry about the cold, with an ice type partner cold weather really wasn't an issue.

 _I'll check it out_ , Yuki said before Nami opened the door. The Frosslass floated through the door into the common room. _There's someone here_ , Yuki reported.

Nami expression hardened and she marched over to the door. She wouldn't let anything happen to the kids here, they were under her protection. She quickly sent out a distress call to the others, a system they'd set up earlier in case of this very occurrence, then thew the door open.

It was dark, but Nami could just make out a small figure in the room. She hit the lights. The boy flinched at the sudden brightness, bringing an arm up to cover his eyes. He was wearing mostly grey, though there were some green accents here and there. His clothes were well fitted and well worn, no no frills or unnecessary pieces that could slow him down, other than the hood that was pulled up over his head. "Who are you?" Nami asked.

There was a loud crash and a Flygon burst through the door, putting itself between Nami and the boy. It was smaller than most Flygon, and there was a large tear on its wing that looked like an old wound. "Are you a Pokésoul?" Nami wondered.

The boy moved his arm away from his face, but the hood still shrouded his expression.

"We're here!" Wolf announced as he leapt through the hole the Flygon had caused. Silvia was front and center, glaring at the Flygon as if she were a much larger creature. A more imposing Pokémon showed up in the form of Zap.

"What's going on?" Pecha asked.

"Who's that?" Mira wondered.

Christopher wasn't present, but that actually wasn't laziness on his part this time, he was supposed to stay at the boys' dorm to make sure they were safe.

"I don't know," Nami replied.

"Who are you?" Wolf asked, using his best interrogation voice.

"...Tael," the boy said.

"Tail?" Pecha said confused.

"Tael," the boy repeated.

"Tale?" Mira wondered.

"Tael!" The boy corrected.

"Aren't you all just saying the same word?" Wolf asked.

"I think the problem is in the spelling," Nami replied.

"What are you doing here?" Wolf asked Tael.

"He looks like a thief," Ri commented.

"Yeah, he's got lock picks," Marie agreed.

"A thief huh," Mira mused. Then she jerked and looked at the stairs were several of the female students were watching the proceedings. "When did you get there?"

"Well, the whole bashing the door down thing was kind of loud," Faye pointed out.

"Oh, right," Pecha said. "And we'd just gotten this place finished too." She looked mournfully at the hole in the wall.

Wolf looked at the students, then back at Tael. "We'll finish this in my office," he decided.

"You don't have an office," Mira pointed out.

"I have a gym," Wolf replied.

"I don't remember saying that was yours," Pecha countered.

"It is now," Wolf said cheerfully.

He grabbed Tael, much to the Flygon's displeasure, but the two went without complaint. Mira and Pecha followed after them. Nami turned to the gathered girls.

"You can go back to bed now," she said.

"But I want to know what happens," Marie said.

"Me too!" Mari agreed. "Who was that? What was he doing? Why?"

"When we find out more we'll tell you," Nami assured. "Go back to bed."

* * *

The girls (Triple M, plus Ash, Faye and Katie) went back upstairs, but they didn't go to bed. They convened in Mari and Ash's room.

"I want to know what's going on," Faye said.

"Me too," Marie agreed.

"So how do we find out?" Katie wondered.

"We could try magic!" Mari suggested, surprising no one.

"No!" Marie protested.

"Keep it down," Ri chastised. "Nami'll be listening."

"Don't tell me what to do," Marie complained, but it was in a quieter tone of voice.

"If we don't use magic, how do we do it?" Faye wondered.

"Technology?" Marie suggested in a bit of a condescending tone.

"If there are any cameras in the gym I can hack into them," Ash said.

"Are there any?" Katie asked.

"I don't know," Ash admitted. "I haven't been in there yet."

"There are," Marie informed. "Two of them. One in the back corner and one in the front."

Everyone stared at her, and Faye finally vocalized their thoughts. "Why do you know that?" she asked.

"It was important information to have," Marie replied.

"Right..." Ash said. "Well, let me try to hack them." She went over to her desk and powered on her laptop. The others crowded around behind her.

Her fingers flew across the keys, and somehow she got into the school system. "Wow, you can hack like Kai," Marie said, impressed.

Ash laughed a bit bashfully. "I'm nowhere near as good as her," she said. "But hopefully I'll get there one day."

She pulled up the feed from the two gym cameras and everyone became quiet as she turned on the sound.

On the screen Wolf was staring down the boy who had finally removed his hood. Pecha was leaning by the door and Mira watched on, a pensive look on her face. It was clear now that the boy was extremely young. Before his hood had cloaked his features, but now his youth showed. He was younger than anyone else at the academy, probably eleven or twelve.

His hair was black and was tied into two tails,one swept to the back and one on the side. He was staring at Wolf, a terribly unconcerned expression on his face as Wolf's voice, which sounded tinny from the audio distortion, asked about him.

"Are you a Pokésoul?" Wolf asked, looking at the Flygon.

"He is," Mira replied after a moment. "The two of them are clearly joined."

"Want to introduce us?" Pecha asked.

"This is Arro," Tael said. It was pronounced like 'Are - oh', a rather odd name, Marie thought.

"And you're Tael," Wolf added. The boy just stared.

"You know Wolf's a Guardian Force officer," Pecha said. "We can easily send you to jail."

Tael looked unimpressed. "Why were you robbing us anyway?" Wolf asked.

"This used to be a raider base," Tael said. "There should be treasure here."

"Raider base?" Katie repeated, looking concerned.

"Treasure?" Mari said with a huge grin.

"This was a raider base?" Marie said disgustedly. "The more I find out about this place the more I hate it."

"But treasure!" Mari protested.

"Quiet," Faye hissed.

They'd missed some of the conversation, and somehow the conversation had gotten to this point: "Why don't you come to school here," Pecha was offering.

"Did she just...?" Faye said shocked.

"You could learn a lot here," Mira agreed.

"She did," Marie replied.

Tael and Arro looked at each other. "You're not going to arrest me?" he asked.

"No, you're just a kid," Wolf said.

"...I'll try it out," Tael said.

"Okay," Pecha said. "We have some paperwork to do then, that can wait until morning though."

"Where is he going to sleep?" Mira wondered.

"Um, we can figure that out later," for now he can sleep in here," Pecha said. "There's a room in the back there."

"But, this is my gym," Wolf protested, though it was clearly in jest.

"Sorry, we'll get you a different office," Pecha assured as she went to the back, presumably to set it up as a room.

"So, the kid steals from us and now he's going to attend classes?" Faye asked.

"Better than him being out on the streets isn't it?" Ri asked.

"Or jail," Katie added. "He's so young."

"Well... This should be interesting," Faye mused. The others nodded and looked at the screen with thoughtful looks on their faces.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry I didn't actually write out the fight, I was going to but I never got around to it...**

 **Character Credit:**

 **Taelian - mweep . inc**


	12. So You're a Thief

**Author's Note:**

 **I'm probably not going to update next week, I have guests and a midterm coming up, but l'll try to get back on schedule after that! Thanks as always for the support!**

* * *

Chapter 10: So... You're a Thief

* * *

James yawned as he walked outside. It was fairly early and Equinox was still asleep - no surprise what with how long the fight against Mayday had gone on - so James had left the room, not wanting to wake his roommate. Annabeth was following him, though the Audino was rather tired and kept bumping into him in her sleepy state. James entered the cafeteria to find it mostly empty. Faye, Katie and Ash were sitting at one of the tables, whispering to each other.

"Good morning," James greeted, taking a seat across from Katie and next to Ash.

"Hi," Ash replied.

"Have you heard yet?" Faye blurted.

"Heard what?" James wondered.

"There's a new kid!" Faye exclaimed.

"He tried to rob the girls' dorm last night," Ash added.

"His name is Tael," Katie finished.

"He tried to rob us, so now he's going here?" James said in surprise.

"That's what I thought!" Faye agreed.

"He's only eleven," Katie explained quietly.

"An eleven year old thief? Huh," James mused.

"I guess he'll be starting in classes on Monday," Ash said.

"So we should watch our things," James mused.

"Unless you want to lose them," Ri agreed cheerfully walking over with Marie.

"I know I'm keeping my door locked," Marie added, taking a seat next to Faye.

"I doubt that'll matter, he had lock picks," Ri pointed out.

"And there are the windows," Ash added.

"Maybe I'll go live in a bunker," Marie grumbled.

"Not without me! We're roomies right?" Ri asked.

James supposed Marie must actually be getting used to Ri, because the only response was an angry look.

"Good morning everyone!" Mari yelled as she slammed the door open.

"Morning Mari," Ri replied, echoed by the others, sans Marie.

"The new kid isn't up yet huh?" She looked disappointed.

"Haven't seen him," Ash replied.

"I wanted to talk to him and ask him about the treasure," Mari sighed.

"What treasure?" James wondered.

Mari opened her mouth, but Marie quickly grabbed her and dragged her away. James looked on in confusion. Katie looked startled as well, but Faye quickly covered. "The kid said something about treasure, but he was just talking about money," she said.

"Oh," James replied, though he was less than convinced. He decided it didn't really matter though so he didn't push it. The group chatted idly, joined by others as they woke until a meeting was called by the teachers. The students went outside as ordered, though James was pretty sure he already knew what the meeting was about.

* * *

"Everyone, this is Tael," Pecha said, gesturing to the small boy.

"Where did he come from?" Leo wondered.

"He tried to rob us last night," Mari replied, in a voice that was not at all quiet.

"He's a thief?" Cassie asked, sounding extremely unimpressed.

Tael glared at her and Cassie glared right back. "What's wrong with a bit of thievery?" Mari wondered.

There was a long silence, then Hibi said, "that was a joke, right?"

"Well she stole a book from me, so I don't think so," Cassie groused.

"That was an accident," Mari replied happily.

"Besides, you have so many I'm surprised you even noticed," Faye added.

"Stealing from people with a lot of stuff is still stealing," Nami said.

"I apologized!" Mari exclaimed.

"Did you?" Ash wondered. "I don't remember that happening."

"Well, I didn't do anything wrong," Mari replied.

Cassie raised her hand. "Uh, yes Cassie?" Pecha asked.

"I'd like to be put in a dorm with smarter people," she requested.

"Well, Mari actually has really good grades," Pecha said.

"That's right!" Mari exclaimed. "All the members of Maririe are smart!"

"I'm not a part of that," Marie grumbled quietly.

"Um, we should get back on topic," Mira suggested.

"Right, the tale of Tael!" Hibi announced.

"Yeah, that one," Mira said with a smile.

"So how does him robbing us end up with him coming to our school?" Lance asked.

"He's only eleven," Wolf said. "He deserves a chance to turn his life around."

"So you don't want to steal?" James asked Tael.

"Whatever," Tael mumbled.

"Well that convinced me," Silas grumbled.

"Where is he going to stay?" Lance asked. "The boys' dorm is already full right?" He looked a bit shifty at this, probably because he was in a single and was the most likely to get a new roommate, Faye assumed.

"We're still deciding," Wolf replied. "We don't want to put him with all of you in case he decides to steal." Tael appeared completely unbothered by this assumption. "He's currently staying in the back room of the gym and he'll stay there until we decide where to put him permanently."

There was some muttering about this, but no outright complaints.

"Well, that's it for today, you can go now," Pecha announced.

"I'd like to talk to Triple M, Faye, Ash, and Katie," Wolf said.

"You're calling us Triple M now too?!" Marie yelled.

"It's so much easier than calling you individually," Wolf replied. Marie hid her face in her hands and there was audible mumbling, but no words that Faye could make out.

"What do you need us for?" Mari asked.

"We just wanted to know if you'd told anyone about this being a raider base," Nami said.

"Not yet," Faye replied. "You don't want people to know?"

"We think it would be better if they didn't," Pecha answered.

"It might make some of them uncomfortable. Especially people from the Outerlands," Wolf added.

"I can totally keep a secret!" Ri exclaimed.

"I know," Marie grumbled, looking up from her hands. "I will find all of your secrets!" She announced.

Faye looked at them blankly. "Is everything okay?" She wondered.

"Just fine," Marie growled, still glaring at Ri who was, as usual, smiling brightly.

"Good to see you're all getting along," Pecha said. "You can go now."

* * *

Darn and Hibi had grabbed onto Tael as the meeting ends. "Hi there," Darn said. "I'm Darn and this is Hibi. We're the two youngest other than you, so we thought we'd say hi." Tael stared at him.

"So... you're a thief," Hibi commented. "Is that fun?" Tael continued to stare silently.

"Uh, have you seen the school yet?" Darn asked.

"No," Tael replied in a tone that clearly said that he didn't care.

"Right, well, we have to, uh, go," Darn said.

"Yeah, I think Cerise is calling us," Hibi added. He gestured in a random direction and walked off. It just so happened that Cerise actually was in that direction and the two boys walked over to her.

"He's really hard to talk to," Darn commented.

"We'll get no tales from him," Hibi added.

"You talked to him?" Cerise asked as they caught up to her.

"He's mean," Hibi said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't talk to him if I were you," Darn said, thinking of how shy Cerise was. Tael would be far from an ideal conversation partner for her. Or for anyone really. Rather than being shy he seemed to genuinely dislike talking to others.

"He's kinda scary," Hibi added. "Even if he is younger than us."

"He does seem intense," Cerise said, peeking back at the thief nervously.

Leo was now talking to Tale, asking him if he played an instrument probably, but it looked like the blue-haired boy was having as little luck as Darn and Hibi had had. Leo was making animated gestures and talking while Tael stared motionless. Then he walked off while Leo was mid-sentence. The three friends stared in bemusement as Leo shouted and chased after the young boy, apparently determined to finish whatever it was he was saying.

* * *

"Okay everyone," Mari began as she surveyed the girls in front of her. They were in Ash and Mari's room again and it was the same girls from the night before.

"What are we doing here?" Marie asked, a look of irritation on her face.

Mari was sure the only reason she'd come was because she couldn't stand not knowing what Mari was up to. "We now know that this place was a raider base," Mari replied.

"So what?" Faye wondered, her head cocking to the side curiously.

"This building was the vault. What if there really is treasure here?" Mari continued.

"Is that it? I'm leaving," Marie said, standing up.

"It's actually not that far-fetched," Ash said, stalling Marie.

"It isn't?" Faye wondered. "Wouldn't the teachers have gone through everything?"

"Raiders are notorious for hiding their treasure. It's completely possible that something was overlooked," Ash explained.

"There might actually be treasure here?" Ri asked, looking excited.

"But, are there going to be traps and things too?" Katie wondered, looking uncomfortable.

"Maybe, but between all of us I'm sure we can handle them," Mari said with a confident grin.

"You actually believe there could be something hidden here?" Marie asked.

"Of course!" Mari replied.

Ash, who the question was actually directed at, nodded. "I think it's a distinct possibility."

"...Fine, I'm in," Marie said.

"So when are we going to look?" Faye asked. "Nami heard Tael when he was sneaking around, so if we try anything I'm sure she'll just catch us too."

"We need to get everyone out of the dorm," Mari replied. "Then we can look as loud as we want to."

"Yeah, I don't think silence is an option with you around," Marie mused.

"But how do we get everyone to leave?" Ri wondered. "Cassie is always here, unless she's at the cafeteria or class."

"We could skip class," Faye suggested.

"I don't want to miss anything," Katie said.

"What about during dinner?" Marie wondered. "Everyone will be at the cafeteria."

"Except that some people leave early and some people don't go all the time," Marie replied.

"We need to manufacture something to get everyone away," Ash said. "Nothing else will guarantee that everyone else is gone."

"Any ideas?" Faye wondered.

Mari grinned and Katie looked at her nervously. "I have an idea," Mari said.

"What is it?" Marie asked cautiously.

"You know that spell we used the other day?"

"The adventure spell?" Ri wondered.

"That's the one. What if, I use it again. But I put everyone else in."

"So we would be out here, and they'd be stuck in magical adventure land?" Marie clarified.

"Yep."

"But, won't you get in trouble?" Katie asked.

"Maybe we can make it look like an accident somehow?" Ash suggested.

"Or get someone else to do it," Ri said.

"What do you mean?" Marie asked. "We can't tell anyone else our plan."

"Of course not, just get them to cast the spell," Ri replied. "Leave the book near them and suggest that it would be a good idea to use it when everyone's gathered together."

"Then wouldn't we be caught in it too?" Faye pointed out.

"Not if I cast a spell first preventing us from being pulled in," Mari replied. "We'd have to modify the spell we give them though. The spell I used left our Pokémon out, we want their partners to be gone too."

"And we need everyone together too, when would that be? Dinner?" Faye wondered.

"Or Pokésoul class," Marie said.

"Are we actually going to do this?" Katie wondered. She looked torn between excited and nervous.

"Sounds fun to me," Faye said.

"If we have someone else cast the spell we have to keep in mind that they're in control of how long it goes on for," Ash said. "We may not have very long."

"And who are we going to get to do it?" Marie wondered. "Who else is in the magic class?"

"Cerise is, but I'd feel bad tricking her into this," Katie replied.

"Cassie is too, but she wouldn't do it," Mari added. "I think our best bet is either Hibi or Darn."

"If you can think of a punny way of explaining it then I'm sure you can get Hibi easily," Marie remarked.

"Hmm, I'm not very good at puns," Ash said regretfully.

"Alright, starting now we're all going to work on our best puns!" Mari announced.

"Who made you the boss?" Marie grumbled, though she raised no other objection.

"Meeting adjourned!" Mari announced.

* * *

"So did you talk to the new kid?" Hunter wondered looking up from his game as Zair walked in. Colin was sitting at his computer.

"Nope," Zair replied.

"Me neither," Colin said.

"Darn said something about him being super anti-social," Hunter commented.

"Just like us then," Zair said as he laid back on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Are we anti-social?" Colin wondered, looking up from his computer screen briefly.

"We're all sitting here instead of in the common room," Zair replied.

"I don't mind talking to people," Hunter disagreed. "I just don't feel like getting up." There were some jingling sounds coming from the TV and Zair looked up to see the screen displaying a win message. He put his head back down, uninterested.

"I'm going to take a nap," Zair said.

"Good night," Colin said distracted.

"Want me to mute?" Hunter asked.

"It's fine," Zair said.

Zair felt himself drifting off when there was a knock at the door. He woke enough to look up as Hunter told them to come in. It was Leo. "What do you want?" Zair wondered.

"I just wanted to see what you guys were doing. Silas is annoying," Leo complained. He sat down in one of the chairs and looked at the screen. "Have you talked to Tael?"

"Nope," Hunter replied.

"I did. Weird kid," Leo said.

"Coming from you?" Zair muttered. Luckily his voice was muffled by his arm and Leo didn't seem to hear.

"How so?" Colin wondered.

"He doesn't talk at all."

"Like Faith?" Hunter suggested.

"No, he does talk, just not often. And tends to use one word answers," Leo explained.

Hunter shrugged. "As long as he doesn't steal any of my stuff I don't mind," he said.

"If he touches my guitar Oshawott is going to destroy him," Leo growled.

"If he was looking for valuable things I doubt your guitar would be his first choice," Zair pointed out.

"My guitar is beautiful!" Leo protested.

"I didn't way it wasn't," Zair sighed. It was too late though, Leo began some rant about how amazing his instrument was on way too much technical detail for someone who had never had any particular interest in the subject.

* * *

 **Sorry for the abrupt ending, I couldn't think of anything better...**


	13. No Children in my Classroom

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry this is so short! I was super busy :( I figured I'd post it anyway, I'll try to have a real chapter for next week.**

* * *

Chapter 11: No Children in my Classroom

* * *

Excerpt from _Dance of Fate_ , by Mira Lee

 _Zyra. She's an odd one. Her family was killed by raiders when she was young and she grew up in the forest. As such she understand Pokémon in a way no one else I've ever met does. She met Pecha and the two traveled together before coming to Lumiose. After Razan was captured, she was instated as the head of Nature's Guardians, which was turned into a faction of the Guardian Force. It was supposed to be a temporary position, but everyone liked her so much she became the permanent leader._

* * *

Planning their heist was going to take a significant amount of time, Mari was very clearly impatient, Katie seemed to hope everyone would just give up on the idea, and Ash was busy planning. No one was sure when they'd be ready, but it would probably take a couple weeks to prepare. So the girls continued on with their normal lives as they prepared.

* * *

Marie was listening to River's latest lecture when something odd happened.

"Hello students!" The door flew open and a woman walked inside.

River looked at her in surprise. "Zyra," she said.

"Hi River, how are ya?" Zyra asked.

Marie observed the leader of Nature's Guardians in interest. She wasn't one of Marie's personhoral heroes, but she was someone worth watching.

"I wasn't expecting you," River said.

"Thought I'd drop by," Zyra explained. "These are the students?" She looked at the class.

"Yep!" Ri replied. "And you're the leader of Nature's Guardians."

"That I am," Zyra agreed.

"Is Nevin with you?" Ash wondered.

"Nope. He's keeping an eye on the base for me. Starlight is here though," Zyra replied.

"Starlight?" Gabriel repeated. "Does that mean Eclipse is here as well?" He looked intrigued.

"Yep. And their daughter Nysa-Eon," Zyra confirmed.

"Can we talk to them?" Marie wondered.

Zyra shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

"Eclipse doesn't like talking to people, but Starlight is friendly," River explained.

"Where are they?" Ri asked, looking around as if expecting them to appear from out of the wall or come in through the window.

"Starlight's talking to Pecha. Eclipse went to bother Wyvrn I think. Not sure where Eon is," Zyra replied.

"Eclipse and Wyvrn in the same room? That sounds awful," Marie remarked.

"Yeah, it's probably pretty bad over there," Zyra agreed. "At least Volke isn't here."

"He's just over in Eterna though, isn't he?" Zair pointed out.

"He is?" Zyra wondered.

River nodded. "We're staying in Eterna while I work here."

"Huh, didn't know that," Zyra replied.

"You don't pay attention to my e-mails do you," River sighed.

"I don't know how to turn my computer on," Zyra said proudly.

"You don't?" Ash asked, looking horrified. Colin had a similar look of shock and horror plastered on his face.

"Is that even possible?" Hunter wondered.

"Hey Ri, do you know how to turn a computer on?" Marie asked.

"I just press all the buttons until something happens!" Ri announced proudly. Marie had no idea if the girl was joking or not.

"The power button is clearly labeled," Ash said in despair.

"Computers are pointless anyway," Zyra said with a dismissive wave of her hands.

"They are not," River retorted. "If you actually learned how to use one I think you'd find it very useful."

"I just get Nevin or Starlight to do all that stuff for me," Zyra replied with a shrug.

River sighed. "Why are you here Zyra?" She asked.

"Just stopping by," Zyra replied. "I'll go talk to Pecha when Starlight is done. I just wanted to see the little kids."

"You're not that much older than us," Zair pointed out.

"Doesn't make you not a kid," Zyra replied.

"It might make you one," Ri said with a grin.

* * *

Leo sat in the back of the average class trying to pretend like he was actually paying attention to Wyvrn's lecture about sentence structure. The subject was way too boring for him to give it his actual attention, but he was too afraid of Wyvrn to openly ignore him.

Oshawott was poking him repeatedly to try and assist his efforts to stay awake, but it was only a temporary measure. Eventually he'd fall asleep anyway. Luckily, he was saved by a visitor. The door opened and a low voice said, "Wyvrn."

Wyvrn turned and nodded at the person behind the door. "Eclipse," he said.

Eclipse walked inside the room, his eyes flicking over to the students before back to Wyvrn. "I wasn't expecting you," Wyvrn said.

"Starlight wanted to come," Eclipse replied. "Zyra's here as well."

Wyvrn's face darkened. "Crazy tree woman," he muttered.

"This is your class?" Eclipse wondered.

"Yes. I teach English," Wyvrn replied. Eclipse nodded uninterestedly.

"You're Eclipse?" Mari asked. "You fought with Razan didn't you?"

"Yes," he replied.

"What was that like?" Mari wondered.

Eclipse shrugged. "Don't you have a strange eye power?" Equinox asked.

"You mean this?" Eclipse lifted his eyepatch and a dark beam shot out of his eye, obliterating Wyvrn's desk. He replaced the eyepatch and the beam dissipated.

"That was my desk!" Wyvrn yelled. Kadabra made soothing sounds, but Wyvrn ignored him.

"I needed something to demonstrate on," Eclipse replied coolly.

It looked like Wyvrn was about to throw a punch when another person came into the room. "Hey Eclipse!" The new woman greeted. She was followed by a young girl. The girl was much younger than anyone else in the room, younger than even Tael by several years. She was hiding behind the older woman, though she was still visible. Her hair was a very dark color, appearing black at first glance but was actually purple. It was cut into choppy bangs that fell over her eyes in the front while the rest fell in layers to her shoulders. Most of her hair was covered by the Pikachu ear hoodie she was wearing. It was bright yellow and practically engulfed the girl, though the edge of her blue sundress was visible below the sweater, falling to her knees. In her arms was a Flabebe.

"Starlight," Wyvrn greeted. "Why is there a child here?"

"It's my daughter," Eclipse snapped.

"You've met her, why are you acting like you don't know her?" Starlight asked. She reached around to give the small girl a gentle pat on the head.

"She's so cute!" Faye exclaimed. "Hi there!"

"Does she play any instruments?" Leo wondered.

"She's not even ten yet. You're not seriously trying to get her in your band are you?" James asked.

"You can't start too early!" Leo announced.

"She's not joining your band," Eclipse said, looking at Leo suspiciously.

"Maybe when she's older," Starlight added.

"What's your name?" Mari asked the young girl.

"Nysa-Eon," the girl said quietly.

"That's a nice name," Faye told her.

"We usually just call her Eon," Starlight said.

"No children in my classroom!" Wyvrn announced.

"Does that mean we're dismissed?" James asked.

"Let's go then!" Faye exclaimed.

"No small children in my classroom," Wyvrn clarified.

"But she's so cute!" Mari protested.

"We were going anyway," Starlight interrupted. "Zyra wants to stick around for a few days though, so you'll all see us again. See you later!" She waved at them cheerily and Eon gave them a small wave as well. Eclipse just walked off silently.

* * *

 **Character Credit:**

 **Nysa-Eon: Amy47101**


	14. That's Not How Heat Works

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry this chapter is short and odd. Hopefully it's at least a bit funny. I'm going to be busy for a bit here so the updates are probably going to stay short for a few weeks. Sorry about that!**

* * *

Chapter 12: That's Not How Heat Works

* * *

"Christopher!" Ash said as soon as the Technology class was filled.

"Yes Ash?" He replied, looking startled at her exclamation.

"I want to hold a special class. We need to teach Zyra how to use a computer."

"She doesn't know how to use a computer?" Equinox asked.

"She doesn't," Marie confirmed.

"Wow, she really doesn't know?" Roland mused. "You just press all the buttons until it starts up!"

This earned him a few disturbed glances, but Ash decided to focus on her current target and figure Roland out later.

"You want to teach Zyra huh?" Christopher said, sounding amused. "I doubt it will work, but it will certainly be entertaining to watch." He gestured to Vieara and the Weavile ran out of the room. She returned a few minutes later with Zyra in tow.

"What's going on?" She asked. Ash and Marie both stood and steered Zyra into one of the front desks.

"We're teaching you how to use a computer," Equinox explained.

"I don't need to know that," Zyra said and started to stand up.

Ash wondered for a minute, _what would Mari do?_ And shouted out, "Pin her!"

Barrett reached out with his vines and trapped her in the seat.

"This is forceable teaching!" Zyra yelled. "You can't make me learn things I don't want to!"

"Yes we can!" Ash replied. Colin and Shion were both looking a bit pale and confused by the proceedings.

"Is this really happening?" Colin wondered. Shion nodded silently. "I was afraid of that."

Ash dropped her computer in front of Zyra. "This is the power button," Ash explained gesturing to one of the keys. Zyra had her eyes closed. "Open your eyes!"

"What's going on?" Mira appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing to Zyra?"

"We're teaching her how to use a computer," Christopher replied.

"Oh." Mira was quiet for a moment. "Good luck!" She turned around and left.

"Mira! Don't abandon me!" Zyra called out. There was no response.

"Where's Darkfire?" Marie wondered. "Shouldn't she be helping?"

"She fell asleep and abandoned me," Zyra replied, her voice full of betrayal.

"Her skills are only available when she's awake, so right now Zyra has no dark powers!" Ash realized happily.

"She's still _Zyra_ ," Colin pointed out.

"She can't kill you. She's actually respected now and attacking students would make her look bad," Christopher said, his tone a bit mocking. Zyra glared at him. Ash grabbed her head and forced her to look at the keyboard.

"No! I won't use it!" Zyra declared.

"Do we have to stay here for this?" Shion wondered. Her question was answered by the alarm on Christopher's phone going off.

"What does that mean?" Zyra asked.

"Class is over," Christopher explained.

"Then you all have to go now," Zyra said, a look of victory on her face.

"No we don't. This is the last class," Ash replied.

Colin and Shion both snuck out the back while no one was looking.

* * *

Back at the beginning of the elective class period, Gabriel was enjoying his free period. And his enjoying involved following Eclipse around. Eclipse had clearly noticed, but was ignoring the boy. Zoroark seemed to be following his partner's example.

"Does your eye hurt?" Gabriel wondered. "The one with the black beam. Or the other one actually. Does the beam ever run out?" He'd yet to receive anything other than a noncommittal grunt in response, but it wasn't deterring him in the slightest.

"Hey Eclipse!" Starlight called out, waving down her husband. She looked to Gabriel with some confusion then turned back to Eclipse. "Do you want to stay here or in Eterna? Pecha can find room here, or River has extra rooms in her mansion."

"What does Eon want to do?" Eclipse asked.

"Either one," Eon replied. She peeked out from behind Starlight, but upon seeing Gabriel hid again.

"Let's head back to Eterna for today," Eclipse decided.

"We should get going now then," Starlight replied. Eclipse nodded and the two headed off.

"Wait! I still have so many questions!" Gabriel protested.

"What are you doing?" Lance asked as he walked over to the group.

Starlight looked at Lance and got a very odd expression on her face. Lance noticed this and suddenly became very interested in the ground.

"I want to research Eclipse's bond," Gabriel said, answering Lance's question.

"No," Eclipse said and walked off.

"Bye," Starlight said and she followed Eclipse, though she spared one last lingering look at Lance.

"What did she want with you?" Gabriel asked, studying Lance himself. Gabriel couldn't see anything worth that kind of scrutiny.

Lance shrugged. "Maybe she just likes me," he replied flippantly. Gabriel didn't believe this, but if it didn't have anything to do with Pokésouls, he didn't really care either.

* * *

"Well, it's our turn to make dinner," Leo said, breaking the silence in the kitchen. It was their first time as the chefs and he was with a rather...unmotivated group. His group was Colin, Hunter, Zair, Silas, and himself.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Zair muttered.

"What should we make?" Colin asked quietly. He had his laptop on and the screen was displaying some sort of cooking website.

"Something easy," Hunter replied.

"Agreed," Leo said.

"Salad?" Silas suggested.

"Gross," Zair countered.

"It's easy though. All you do is throw some leaves in a bowl," Silas said.

"I think it's more complicated than that," Colin said uncertainly.

Hunter walked over to the pantry and began looking through the ingredients. "There's not a whole lot in here," he warned.

"I bet Mari used up everything," Silas grumbled. "She seems like the type."

"What _do_ we have?" Leo asked.

"Spaghetti," Hunter replied.

"Oh, well that's easy," Silas said.

Leo opened the fridge. "We don't have any cheese," he said.

"Or tomato sauce," Hunter added.

"So we'll just have noodles. No one said we had to make anything amazing," Zair declared. He grabbed the box of uncooked noodles from Hunter's hands and threw them in the pot of water Colin had set on the stove.

"I'm pretty sure the water's supposed to be boiling before you put those in," Colin said nervously.

"Not the way I do things," Zair said.

The boys all stared at the pot for a few moments in silence. "Shouldn't we turn the stove on?" Leo asked.

"Do I have to do everything?" Zair complained.

"I'll do it," Hunter said. He turned one of the knobs and stepped back again. They resumed staring at the pot in silence.

"This is really boring," Leo declared. "Anyone want to jam?"

"No," Zair replied instantly.

"Definitely not," Silas agreed.

"I think we should keep an eye on the noodles," Colin said.

Somehow this turned into an argument and boys began making snide comments at each other, not noticing when the water began boiling until the sound of steam hit their ears. They turned as one to see the pot overflowing and noodles strewn across the stove.

"Someone needs to turn it off," Zair said, looking at Hunter.

"I turned it on," Hunter countered, taking a step backwards.

"I got the bowl out!" Colin said quickly, holding his laptop to his chest.

"Silas didn't do anything," Zair pointed out.

"Neither did Leo!" Silas countered. As Zair and Silas bickered, Leo decided to man up a bit and walked slowly over to the stove. He reached out, and quickly turned the knob to the off position. The water continued to bubble.

"I was really hoping that would instantly fix it," Silas admitted.

"That's not how heat works," Colin replied.

"You think the noodles are okay?" Zair wondered.

They weren't. They were clearly overcooked and they didn't have any sauce or cheese to disguise the face. "Maybe it'll be so awful they'll never make us do it again," Zair said hopefully.

When their terrible cooking was revealed to the rest of the school they were given detention in the form of cooking classes with Mira.


	15. Mario Deserved It

**Author's Note:**

 **Thanks as always for the reviews! I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Chapter 13: Mario Deserved It

* * *

The girls were all gathered in the common room, even Faye and Mayday, when Mari suddenly grinned mischievously. "Hey everyone!" She called out. "Since we're all together, how about we play a game?"

"No," Cassie replied. She went to stand, but Nami stopped her.

"I think it's a good idea," Nami said. "You should all get to know each other better."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Mari said happily. "In the spirit of getting to know each other better, I think we should play truth or dare!"

"How about truth or truth?" Marie suggested.

Truth or truth? What's that?" Katie wondered.

"It's a game where I ask questions and everyone is forced to answer them," Marie replied.

"I'm pretty sure that's just an interrogation," Faye said.

"So, truth or dare?" Mari asked hopefully.

"If you play that you can't dare them to do anything too extreme," Nami warned.

"Are you going to chaperone us?" Faye wondered.

Nami looked around the group, her gaze lingering on Mari and nodded. "I think I'd better."

"Then you'll play too!" Mari announced. She then forced everyone to sit on the floor (though Faith completely refused and the glare she threw at everyone frightened them enough to let her stay on the couch) in a large circle. "I'll go first," Mari said. "Katie!" Katie jolted and stared at Mari in fright. "Truth or dare?"

Katie surprised most by replying, "Dare."

"Reasonable demands," Nami warned.

"Reasonable..." Mari muttered unhappily. "I dare you to go and steal something from Silvia!"

"No," Nami said.

"You don't want us stealing from teachers?" Mari wondered.

"Stealing from Silvia never ends well," Nami replied darkly.

"Okay then... I dare you to go to the boys' dorm and -" Nami cut Mari off before she could finish.

"Maybe we should just play truth or truth," Nami suggested.

Mari pouted. "Fine. Where do you keep your magic stash?"

"I don't have a magic stash," Katie replied.

"What? Every Mage has a magic stash, don't they?" Mari asked.

"I don't think so," Ash replied. "I've never heard of that."

"They do on Pokéwitch," Mari muttered.

"Katie it's your turn," Faye said.

"Oh, me? Um, Ash, truth or, uh, truth?" Katie asked.

"Truth," Ash replied with a smile.

"How did you get so good with computers?" Katie wondered.

"That's a boring question," Mari complained.

"I read a lot of books," Ash replied.

"That is admirable of you," Cassie said.

"Hey, Cassie actually complimented someone!" Ri said in exaggerated shock.

"Ash, your turn," Faye cut in before Cassie could retort.

"Okay... Marie. Why did I see you walking around with a camera the other day?"

"That's easy. I was gathering intel," Marie replied.

"Intel?" Katie asked.

"Marie has files on all of us," Ri informed.

"Those are private!" Marie growled.

"Um, files?" Nami asked, looking concerned.

"It's a diary," Marie said.

"Sure it is," Ri agreed with a grin.

"Ri! How is it possible to babble about nothing all the time?" Marie demanded.

"Practice," Ri replied. "My turn now!"

"What? No! That was a terrible answer," Marie complained.

"The rules don't say anything about being happy with the answers you get. Cassie do you actually sleep?" Ri asked.

"Of course I do," Cassie scoffed. "...Just not as much as I should."

"You ask a question now," Ash prompted.

"Ash, what are the four bases in DNA?" Cassie asked.

"Not that kind of question!" Mari protested.

"Adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine," Ash answered.

Cassie nodded. "Correct."

"Are we being graded on this now?" Faye wondered.

"Alright, Shion," Ash began. The girl started a bit and looked up. "What's your favorite Pokémon?"

Shion looked down at the shiny Eevee in her arms. "Eevee," she replied.

"These are not good enough questions," Mari sighed.

"I actually agree with you,' Marie replied.

"Mayday," Shion said. "Why do you go in the woods all the time?"

"Survival training," Mayday replied. "You should all learn it too."

"Survival? Like learning how to get by if there's a zombie apocalypse?" Faye asked.

"How to survive on your own in the wild and in the city," Mayday replied. "It's important."

Nami didn't seem to know how to react to that as she clearly almost said several different things but remained silent in the end. "Your question now," Mari prompted.

"Marie. How did you train to sneak around with your camera?" Mayday asked.

"I was not sneaking!" Marie countered. "And I didn't really train, I just started taking pictures and found that people reacted less badly when they didn't see me doing it," she added in a quieter voice.

"So you sneak around," Ri translated.

"Shut up!" Marie demanded. "My question. Mari, why do you like magic so much?"

Mari tilted her head in confusion. "What's not to like?" She wondered. "It's magic." The two stared at each other for a few moments and Marie sighed and broke eye contact.

"My question!" Mari announced. "Cerise, what's with the eyepatch?"

Cerise's hand flew up to her eye and she shrunk into herself. "U-um i-it's um," she stuttered.

"It's not like Eclipse's thing is it?" Faye asked, leaning away slightly.

"N-no, it's just strange," Cerise said. She lifted the eyepatch to reveal a blood red eye. Her other eye was amber in color and the mismatched eyes made a strange image.

"That's odd," Marie mused. Cerise quickly covered it back up.

"I don't like to draw attention," she muttered.

"I didn't mean odd bad," Marie quickly said.

"I think it's cool!" Mari said enthusiastically.

"Your question now Cerise," Ash prompted.

"Uh, um, Faye. What's your favorite class?" Cerise asked.

"Art!" Faye replied. "Er, no offense Nami."

"None taken," Nami assured.

"My turn now!" Faye said with a grin. "So, Katie. Any boys caught your interest?" Faye had a sneaky grin on her face and Katie quailed a bit.

"Uh what do you mean by that...?" It was clear Katie didn't actually want the clarification.

"You know, any date worthy guys?" Faye asked.

Katie just stared in panic. Eventually Faye either took pity on Katie, or got bored because she spoke again. "If Katie won't answer, then, Cerise. Darn or Hibi?"

Cerise stuttered nervously and Ash cut in. "Don't ask her that," Ash chided.

"Well someone needs to answer my question!" Faye exclaimed.

"I can list several boys I dislike," Cassie offered.

"Wouldn't that just be all of them?" Marie asked. Cassie shrugged.

"Calm down everyone," Nami said, raising her voice to be heard above the squabbling. "I think you should stop for the night."

"But!" Mari protested.

"Thank you!" Katie exclaimed and disappeared up the stairs followed by Cerise. Mayday and Faith both disappeared and Cassie began up the stairs.

"Well that ended quickly," Marie remarked.

"It was fun while it lasted," Faye sighed. Shion disappeared up the stairs as the girls lamented the end of the game.

"You should go to bed soon," Nami suggested. She then bid them goodnight and went into her own room.

"There were so many more things I wanted to know," Marie sighed.

"Based on what just happened I don't think you'd have gotten much anyway," Ri replied.

"You can ask me stuff," Mari offered.

"It's getting late," Ash interrupted. "We really should get to bed. We have school tomorrow after all."

"Fine," Mari sighed. "I hope we play again sometime."

* * *

In the boys' dorm several of the boys were gathered in the common room. However, the boys' common room was significantly smaller than the girls' one leading to a much more crowded atmosphere.

Tael was off somewhere, no one was really sure where, but somehow the others had all gathered in the same room. There were, however, only two couches and two chairs. Colin was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room with his laptop, Jean Luc next to him. Darn and Hibi had managed to both squish into one of the chairs and seemed happy enough. Hunter, Zair, James and Equinox were all jammed onto one sofa with Silas, Leo, Roland and Sunny on the other. Gabriel was standing, taking notes while Lance had somehow managed to get a chair all to himself.

"Why doesn't Lance have to share?" Zair complained as he tried to free his arms from where they were trapped between Hunter and James.

"Dibs," Lance replied easily.

"You can't call dibs," Silas protested.

Lance shrugged. "Why are we all in here anyway?" Leo asked. "Shouldn't we do something?"

"We could play Mario Party," Sunny suggested.

"We can't," James replied.

"You mean you don't want to," Sunny corrected.

"No, I mean we can't," James countered.

Darn walked over to the TV and lifted up the game box. He opened it to show that someone had smashed the Mario Party disc at some point. "I'm pretty sure it happened on that game night, but I don't remember who did it," Darn said.

"Mario deserved it," James asserted.

"So it was you!" Sunny accused.

"No, but whoever it was did the right thing."

"Why don't we play some music?" Leo suggested.

"No Leo," the entire room replied.

"There's too many of us to play any games anyway," Silas sighed.

"I'm happy observing," Gabriel replied. "Do you have any fighting games? I'd be interested to see how your Pokésoul powers effect your mastery of the games." He was ignored.

"I think I'll just go to bed," Silas sighed, trying to stand. He started trying to use Leo's head for leverage so the blue haired boy stood as well.

"Me too," Leo said. "I'm still traumatized from the cooking fiasco." The five boys involved in said fiasco all got haunted looks on their faces.

"That was worst thing I've ever eaten," Lance informed.

"It was alright," Sunny said. "I ate some stuff in the woods that tasted similar."

"That doesn't make me feel better!" Zair exclaimed.

"We should have followed the recipe," Colin muttered.

"Even if we had we still didn't have anything to put on the noodles," Hunter reminded.

"That mush was supposed to be noodles?" Equinox wondered.

"Yes," Zair grumbled.

"Man, I thought Silas would be good at cooking," Jame sighed.

"Why?" Leo wondered.

"He looks like a girl," James replied.

"What?" Silas yelled glaring at James. James had clearly been joking but that didn't seem to matter to Silas. Or maybe it made it worse. Luckily, he was dragged out of the room by his Blissey before he could actually attack James.

"I guess he's still sensitive about that," James said with a laugh.

"Not all girls know how to cook you know," Lance pointed out.

"Does that mean we could get some really strange creations from them too?" Jean Luc wondered, looking disturbed.

"I wouldn't eat anything Mari cooked," Zair said.

"I bet Cassie and Marie can cook," Leo mused. "They both seem smart."

"Intelligence doesn't have any correlation to cooking ability," Gabriel said absently. "Though Cassie reads a lot so you may be right."

"I wouldn't eat anything made by Faith," Darn said.

"Yeah, I don't have faith in her cooking," Hibi agreed. "And her Banette might do something to it."

"I'm going to have nightmares now," Colin moaned quietly.

"Me too," Jean Luc agreed. The two looked to each other in a moment of companionship in a sea of crazy.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I was going to use the truth or truth game as a way of revealing more about the characters, but they refused to cooperate... -_-**


	16. He Brought this on Himself

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry, another short chapter, I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

Chapter 14: He Brought This on Himself

* * *

In the younger class, during English period, a stare-down was happening. The participants: Wyvrn and Tael.

"What's happening?" Cerise asked, peeking out from underneath the desk. She hadn't quite managed to stay in her seat when Wyvrn's class started. She'd tried, but every time he looked at her she freaked out.

"Tael is refusing to answer a question," Darn replied.

"What was the question again?" Hibi asked. "The silence as been going on so long I forgot."

"I think it was, 'What is your name?'" Darn said.

"Um, can we move on please?" Sunny asked.

Wyvrn's gaze shot over to the boy. "What?" He demanded.

"We're not learning anything," Mayday said. "Aren't we supposed to be teaching Faith?"

Wyvrn sighed. "That's right. Fine, you're off the hook for now. But I'm giving you a zero on one of your quizzes."

"I don't care," Tael replied.

* * *

After classes, in the kitchen. "We have to watch them cook now?" Zair asked. "Can't we just come in afterwards?"

Zair, Hunter, Colin, Silas and Leo were standing in the kitchen with Mira watching them. They were near the back of the room while Marie, Ri, Cerise and Cassie stood in front of the appliances.

Cerise looked extremely uncomfortable and was hiding behind Cassie, sneaking glances at the boys every so often.

"Why are they here?" Cassie asked.

"I thought that a good start to their detention would be watching you all cook," Mira explained. "And that way I'm here in case it turns out you all can't cook either."

"I-I don't know how," Cerise said in panic.

"I've read books on the subject, it should be easy," Cassie assured.

"Cooking isn't hard," Ri agreed. "What do you guys want to make?"

"How about something spicy?" Marie asked, poking around the cupboards. Cerise made an alarmed face. "Do you not like spicy food?"

Cerise stared at her then finally said, "N-not really."

"Then we'll make something else," Marie said.

"There's not a whole lot in here," Ri remarked, leaning around Marie to look at the pantry. She then walked over to the fridge. "There's plenty of vegetables in here."

"How about we make rice?" Marie suggested, holding a bag of uncooked rice. "We can put some of the vegetables in it."

"That sounds acceptable," Cassie agreed.

"There was rice in there?" Leo wondered.

"I don't know how to cook rice anyway," Zair sighed.

"How do you not know how to make rice?" Silas asked. "You put it in a pot of water, heat it and wait."

"This is the guy who ruined plain spaghetti," Hunter pointed out. Silas sighed in disgust.

Cassie set up the rice with Cerise while Marie and Ri bickered over which vegetables to use.

"This is really boring," Zair complained.

"Would you girls like musical accompaniment?" Leo asked.

"No," Marie growled.

"This is supposed to be detention anyway," Mira said, a bit apologetically.

Leo sulked. "You don't have an instrument," Cassie pointed out.

"I can sing," Leo replied. "It's not my favorite, but I'm not bad."

"Whatever," Cassie said, ignoring him.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Leo exclaimed.

"You're the ones on detention. Don't order us around," Marie replied. She was holding a knife to cut vegetables and waved it to emphasize her point, making Ri duck in fear at one point.

The sight of a knife-waving Marie was enough to keep the boys, even Leo, quiet for the rest of the time. At the end of their session the girls had made a plain, but perfectly edible meal. "Did you learn anything?" Mira asked.

"No," Silas replied.

"I think so," Colin said.

Hunter shrugged while Leo was still sulking so didn't respond. "You can go and eat now, but when you're done come back for the real lesson," Mira said. The boys and Mira all started shuffling out, with the exception of Zair. The reason became clear when the girls heard a faint snoring sound.

"He's asleep," Cassie remarked.

"Too bad Mari's not here," Ri mused. "She'd have something amusing to do to him."

There was a flash and the girls turned to see Marie had taken a picture of him. Where she'd been keeping the camera was anyone's guess. "Blackmail file?"

Marie just grinned. "So... You actually do have a blackmail file?" Cerise asked.

"I don't have to answer that," Marie replied.

Ri pulled out a marker and began drawing on Zair's face. Surprisingly, he remained asleep. "Uh, isn't that..." Cerise mumbled.

"He shouldn't have fallen asleep," Cassie replied.

"You're going along with this?" Marie asked in surprise.

"He brought it on himself," Cassie said.

Ri had drawn a mustache and was drawing angry eyebrows when Silas came in. "Have you seen..." He trailed off as he saw Ri. He grabbed the marker from Ri and moved her to the side. "Your lines are all off," he complained. He started fixing the crooked mustache and began working on the eyebrows much to the shock of everyone in the room. Marie quickly took another picture.

Silas finished, then seemed to notice what he'd been doing. "Uh, it was just annoying. I don't like this kind of stuff!"

The girls nodded, but it was clear none of them believed him. He threw the pen at them and disappeared out the door.

"That was strange," Ri remarked. Marie was too busy looking over her photos and cackling to respond, but Cerise nodded emphatically. "Let's get out of here," Ri suggested. Cassie nodded. They filed out, Marie taking one last picture of Zair before leaving.

* * *

After dinner, Leo, Silas, Colin and Hunter returned to the kitchen to meet with Mira for detention. "I never saw Zair," Leo noted.

"Me neither," Colin agreed. "Did he fall asleep somewhere?"

They opened the door to find Zair slumped in a chair, completely asleep. "What happened to his face?" Hunter wondered.

"It must have been the girls," Silas said abruptly.

The other three gave him an odd look. "Probably," Leo agreed. "I bet it was Ri. Or Marie, she seems evil."

"Should we wake him up?" Colin asked.

"Leave him be," Hunter replied, taking a seat next to Zair.

"Hello boys," Mira greeted as she walked in. "Are you ready to - is Zair asleep?"

"He is," Leo confirmed.

"And you drew on him?" She asked.

"No, he was like that already," Silas said quickly.

"Zair!" Mira yelled. The boy didn't stir.

 _I can wake him up,_ Oshawott said with an audible grin.

"Oshawott has got this," Leo told everyone. The water type grinned, then shot a stream of ice cold water straight at Zair. Hunter leaned away to avoid the spray as the other boy got drenched.

He woke with a gasp and stood up. "That's cold!" He exclaimed. He glared at Oshawott who smiled at him. Unfortunately for Zair, whatever marker had been used on his face was water resistant and the lovely drawings on his face were unaffected.

"You're awake," Mira said happily. "Then we can start the lesson."

Zair groaned and fell heavily back into his chair. "Why," he groaned.

"Because you ruined making spaghetti," Mira replied.

"Should we tell him...?" Colin whispered to Leo.

"Nah, he'll find out eventually ," Leo replied.


	17. Tent Time

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! With Christmas coming up and everything I'm busy with family stuff, I'll still update, but I don't have time to think things through so it's going to be random nonsense for a while longer. Sorry about that and thanks for your patience!**

* * *

Chapter 15: Tent Time

* * *

"Well everyone, we have a special guest today," Pecha announced to the Pokésoul class. "You probably know this already, but this is Zyra, leader of the Nature's Guardians branch of the Guardian Force."

"Nice to meet you all," Zyra said with a smile. "Except for that girl," she added pointing at Ash. "And the Roserade." Barrett stifled a laugh with its flowery appendages.

"What did they do to you?" Darn wondered.

"They tried to force me to learn!" Zyra exclaimed. "It was horrible!"

"Uh, this is a school. Please don't say that learning is bad here," Pecha requested.

"Tried to teach her about computers huh?" Wolf asked. Ash nodded. "It never works," Wolf sighed.

"Kai tried her best," Mira added.

"Wasn't enough," Nami finished. The teachers all got dark looks on their faces, remembering some past terrible event while Zyra smiled happily.

"Anyway," Pecha said, breaking the tense silence. "Zyra is more in touch with her Pokémon side than any of the rest of us so she's going to talk to you a bit."

"That's right!" Zyra announced. "So, my first part of training is to make all of you live out in the woods for a day."

"Wait!" Pecha interrupted. "You can't do that right now!"

"Why not?" Zyra asked, tilting her head curiously.

"We have classes tomorrow," Nami replied.

"And I need to know this kind of stuff in advance to defend everyone properly," Wolf added.

"Well, that was all I had," Zyra said with a sigh.

"That's it? You don't have anything else?" Pecha demanded.

"Nope," Zyra replied without concern.

"I want to do the woods training," Mayday said.

Pecha turned to her. "You do?"

"I do too!" Mari said. "Sounds fun!"

"Count me out," Zair said.

"You're either all doing it or none of you are," Pecha declared.

"Let's not then," Zair replied.

"I want them to do it!" Zyra exclaimed.

"How is making them sleep in the woods teaching them anything? You don't need to be here for this," Christopher pointed out.

"It was my idea," Zyra replied.

There was some conferring among the teachers, and eventually they decided that Zyra's special training would actually occur.

"Alright, everyone get into groups of two," Pecha announced. "Wolf, Mira and Zyra will all be in the woods as well to keep an eye on you. If anything goes wrong, look for them or return to the school. Each group gets a tent and a couple sleeping bags. Be glad, Zyra didn't want you to have them."

"Can we skip this?" Zair asked.

"No," Pecha replied. "If I find any of you sleeping in your rooms back in the dorm, I'll give you detention with Wyvrn."

"Oh, he won't like that," Nami mused.

"And he will definitely take it out on you," Wolf added.

Seeing that they'd struck a reasonable amount of fear into everyone, Pecha said, "Alright! Now get into pairs!"

The students paired off and left, leaving only two remaining. A girl with a Banette and a boy with a Flygon. "I guess you two are a pair," Pecha said. The two glanced at each other, then walked off in different directions. "Well, that could have gone better."

"I'll keep an eye on Tael," Mira assured. If he goes too far away, Kira will notice."

"Yeah, and Faith will be fine. She is Sky's sister after all," Pecha sighed.

* * *

"Alright! Let's explore!" Mari announced. Cerise followed nervously after the witch girl.

 _How did I end up with her as my partner again?_ Cerise wondered. She'd been walking towards Cassie when Mari ran by, seemingly headed for Marie. Then Marie dodged, grabbed Cassie's arm and ran off, leaving Cerise standing next to Mari. Mari had looked at her, then said, 'You'll do!' and somehow Cerise ended up following her.

 _I'm sure it will be fine_ , Lampent said, though his tone wasn't entirely convincing. _If nothing else, I'm still with you._

 _That's right_ , Cerise replied, feeling a sense of comfort at the fact. No one could take their bond away from them after all.

Lampent was dealing fairly well with the forest environment, Spark the Magneton seemed to be much less happy. "I-is he okay?" Cerise asked.

Mark glanced back at the visibly sulking Magneton. "He's fine," Mari assured. "Aren't you Sparky?" The Magneton buzzed something that sounded affirmative. "He's just not a fan of the woods," Mari explained.

Mari continued marching onward and Cerise wondered where she was going. "Aren't we supposed to make a campsite?" Cerise asked nervously.

"Yeah, but we have to have the perfect spot first!" Mari replied.

 _I don't think we'll find that,_ Lampent worried.

 _This...may be a long night,_ Cerise sighed.

* * *

Marie and Cassie stood under a large tree, not too far from where they'd started. "We should set up camp here," Cassie said. "This location seems to be appropriate."

"I'd rather go spy, er, observe some people," Marie replied.

"Why?" Cassie wondered. _What a waste of time_.

 _She seems to like it,_ Glaceon replied.

Glaceon was lying down at the base of the tree, and it was as Cassie looked at her that she realized Marie's partner wasn't around. "To find things out obviously," Marie said. Cassie stared blankly at her before she remembered she'd actually asked a question.

"Where did your Roserade go?" Cassie asked.

Marie shrugged. "He's off having fun. If I need him he'll show up."

"He just wanders around without you?" Cassie wondered. "What does he do?"

"He likes talking to the other Pokémon," Marie explained. "Shall we set up the tent?"

Cassie looked around their chosen spot again, then nodded. "Don't try and talk to me too much tonight," Cassie requested. "I still have to study."

"Don't worry, I have my own stuff to do," Marie assured, patting her camera.

* * *

"Alright, we need to set up camp. Any ideas?" Ri glanced back at the rather quiet girl, Shion. She was holding Doll in her arms and walking along behind her. She hadn't objected, so Ri assumed the girl was okay being her partner, but it was unclear.

Shion shrugged. "Anywhere seems fine," she replied.

Ri nodded agreeably. "How about right here then?" She asked. Shion shrugged again so Ri dropped the tent materials and began setting it up. Shion put Doll down next to Clef and began helping. When the two girls finished they turned around to find their partners rolling around in the dirt and playing some sort of game. "They seem to get along," Ri said, somewhat surprised. Usually Clef was a bit too...odd for most Pokémon. "That means we should too right?" Ri gave the other girl her brightest grin and was met with a blank stare. Ri couldn't blame Shion for not agreeing - Ri didn't even believe the assertion herself. Ri and Clef were so different, though Ri tended to act like Clef to bother people, the Clefairy's opinions about other people were rarely the same as Ri's. Shion and Doll seemed like a similar situation, though Ri didn't know the younger girl well enough to know for sure yet.

"I'm glad they're having fun," Shion said. The two Pokémon were covered in dirt at this point and clearly having a great time.

"Me too," Ri agreed.

* * *

Gabriel sat on a tree stump and watched Roland. "Are you going to help?" Roland wondered as he and his Dragalge worked at setting up a tent.

"I'm more interested in watching the two of you interact," Gabriel replied, absent minded. He was busy jotting notes in his notebook.

"Oh, okay," Roland replied easily.

Gabriel found Roland rather simple, but he was fond of the other boy. Whenever Gabriel wanted to do an experiment, Roland was always happy to help. Of course, there were often times he couldn't as Roland wasn't always capable of doing what Gabriel needed him to, but he was able to help with simple tasks. Plus there was the benefit of getting to observe him over time. This was true for all of the students, but none more so than Roland since Gabriel actually got to share the same room as him.

Unfortunately, Roland's partner Murky was not quite as accommodating. Without being able to actually speak to the Dragalge it was much harder to get a read on his personality. From what Gabriel had been able to ascertain, Murky was much more intelligent than Roland and much less easygoing. Though this sometimes made his experiments harder, Gabriel enjoyed the differing personalities for their research value.

"All done!" Roland announced. The tent was a bit lopsided, but it looked like if would last the night.

"Good job," Gabriel replied. Roland grinned.

* * *

"We get separate tents, right?" Lance asked.

Jean Luc looked up at the other boy. "We only have one," Jean Luc replied. "Is that bad?" _Does he not like me?_ Jean Luc wondered.

 _He usually seems to like you,_ Alyssa mused.

"No, no it's fine!" Lance assured, though his laughter sounded slightly false. Jean Luc wondered at that, but he was much too shy to pry.

 _Maybe he just really likes his personal space,_ Alyssa suggested _. I don't like confined spaces with people other than you either_. That seemed a reasonable explanation so Jean Luc nodded in agreement.

"Alright!" Lance announced. "Tent time." He held his hands out expectantly and Jean Luc handed the tent over. Neither boy was particularly strong looking, but Lance exuded so much confidence and energy that Jean Luc just assumed Lance must be stronger than him. His assumption was proven correct when Lance finished setting up his side of the tent almost twice as fast as Jean Luc. He assisted with the other half, though Jean Luc felt a bit bad about that.

"Don't worry about it," Lance had assured upon seeing Jean Luc's guilty face. "My partner's a fighting type so I'm naturally stronger than most people."

 _Sorry I'm not strong,_ Alyssa said apologetically.

 _Don't apologize for that,_ Jean Luc replied. _I can go lift weights if I want to get stronger. You're worth a lot more than that._

With Lance's help, Jean Luc finished setting up his side of the tent in no time. The two stood back and observed their handiwork.

"...It's a bit small isn't it?" Lance mused, a thread of unease in his tone.

"It doesn't look that bad," Jean Luc replied. He hadn't done much camping, but the tent seemed to be a pretty average size to him.

"This is all about getting in touch with nature and our partners right?" Lance asked.

"Uh, yes?" Jean Luc said, not sure what Lance was getting at.

"Then I'm going to sleep in a tree!" Lance announced. "Virizion is part grass type, so that will help me understand her better!"

Jean Luc stared at the other boy in shock as Lance walked over to a large tree near the tent. "A-are you serious?" He stuttered.

"Of course!" Lance glared at the tree, then began to climb. Virizion was standing at the base of the tree and seemed amused to Jean Luc. Lance sat uncomfortably on a tree branch and looked hopefully at Virizion. Green growths began creeping up the tree and formed a hammock type structure under the branch Lance was sitting on. He carefully put a foot in the middle and transferred some of his weight. It held, so Lance dropped down and sat in the middle of the hammock.

"Is that comfortable?" Jean Luc wondered.

"Actually, it is," Lance replied, sounding surprised himself.

 _I guess we have the tent to ourselves then_ , Jean Luc mused. Alyssa nodded. She floated into the tent and settled herself onto a bundled up sleeping bag.

 _This is comfy_ , she said blissfully.

* * *

"This is just like what you do every night huh?" Sunny asked as he followed Mayday. She certainly hadn't asked him along. He just followed her, like he always did.

Mayday didn't bother to answer his question, she rarely did, but he never seemed bothered. "Let's stop here," Mayday said, interrupting whatever inane comment Sunny was making.

"This place looks good," Sunny agreed. He seemed a simpleton most of the time, but on occasion she was able to see something clever in him, something of the survivor. Like herself. Those times were mostly here, in the woods after he followed her. He displayed a knowledge of surviving in the woods that normal people didn't possess. Mayday found it useful as her own survivor knowledge was mostly from living on the streets in the city. The Outerlands had a very different environment.

 _He talks a lot_ , Gladius noted. The Rhyperior had settled down, resembling a large rock in his stillness.

 _At least it's easy to ignore,_ Mayday replied. A part of her that she didn't want to acknowledge actually liked the chatter. It broke up the eerie silence of the forest.

"Are we using tents or sleeping on the ground?" Sunny asked, looking as enthusiastic as always.

"I'm sleeping on the ground," Mayday replied. The dirt wasn't uncomfortable to her, it was actually rather soothing. Gladius was ground type, which made Mayday ground type in a sense, so the ground felt like an ally rather than flooring. On the city the dirt had always been paved over so being able to actually feel the earth beneath her feet was a novel and extremely pleasant experience for her. Gladius liked it to, Mayday could tell even though the Rhyperior didn't express his opinions very often.

"I will too then!" Sunny decided.

Mayday watched as the boy picked out a spot in the ground and began making it into a comfortable sleeping area. He really was a strange boy and Mayday wasn't sure she'd ever really understand him.

* * *

Ash and Zair stood at the edge of the lake. "How did we end up as a team again?" Ash wondered as she watched the boy wade into the lake. _I thought the point of this was to sleep in the woods,_ Ash grumbled.

 _Well, I guess_ we'll _be sleeping in the woods_ , Pixie mused. _I'm not going out there_. The Ninetails took a few steps back from the water.

"Don't know," Zair replied as he climbed up onto his Lapras's back.

Ash sighed and began setting the tent up by herself. She glanced over at the boy a few minutes after she started, but he seemed to already be asleep.

 _Maybe we should throw something at him_ , Pixie suggested.

 _I could go find Ri and she could draw on him again_ , Ash mused.

 _I can see how far my flamethrower moves across water._

 _Better not. We don't want to cause any permanent damage_ , Ash decided. She finished with the tent and stood back to survey her handiwork. _Not too bad_.

 _Looks nice_ , Pixie agreed. _Can I try?_ Ash gestured for her to go in and the Nintails did so. Ash went in afterward and sat down. _We're not going to let him get away with being so lazy are we?_ Pixie asked.

Ash sighed. _What else can we do?_

Pixie thought for a while, but didn't come up with anything. _I don't have a good idea right now, but I'll think of something_ , Pixie assured.

 _Let me know when you do,_ Ash replied with a fond smile.


	18. Art is Useless

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, I am so sorry about the long wait! I moved kinda suddenly and that took up a ton of my time. I'm really sorry about that! I'm back now though and I shouldn't be too busy. Thanks for your patience! Sorry this chapter is so short, I need to get back into the rhythm of writing, but hopefully you all enjoy it anyway!  
**

* * *

Chapter 16: Art is Useless

* * *

"You know what it's time for?" Mira asked the gathered art students (which was a grand total of three…).

"What?" Faye wondered.

"It's time for the school play!" Mira announced.

"School play?" Leo repeated. "We have one of those?"

"Yep! All of your families are invited too," Mira replied.

Leo's expression darkened. "Yay," he said dully.

Faith, however, actually brightened at this. She made some gestures which no one else understood. "Can you just write it down?" Faye asked.

Faith glared at her, but wrote a single word on the paper in front of her. It said, 'No.'

The two girls glared at each other and Mira quickly spoke up to distract them. "The school play is going to be run by our class."

"There's only three of us!" Faye exclaimed. "We can't put on a whole play by ourselves!"

"All the students have to be involved," Mira replied. "We're in charge."

"So we get to decide what everyone else has to do?" Leo wondered.

"That sounds fun," Faye said with a mischievous grin.

Faith held up her paper again, this time with the word 'Yes' written across it.

"Obviously my band will provide the music," Leo said.

"But what if I want to be in the play?" Faye wondered.

"We could do both," Leo replied.

"Like a musical!" Faye exclaimed.

Mira watched the two, with the occasional written note from Faith, begin their plans and knew that things would be exciting for the next few weeks.

* * *

"A play?" Marie demanded. "And _you_ are in charge of it?" The girls were all in the common room having just listened to Faye announce the news she had.

"That's right!" Faye replied.

"I want to be in it!" Mari exclaimed.

"We're not sure what play we're doing yet, but we can probably find a part for you," Faye assured.

"I don't want to be in it," Cerise stammered nervously.

"You really get to just decide what we all do?" Cassie asked. "That seems unfair."

"Well it's your fault for not choosing the art elective," Faye replied.

"Art is useless," Mayday said. "I will take no part in this."

"Unfortunately it's mandatory," Faye replied.

"You're making that up," Marie accused.

"Actually she's not," Nami corrected. She had just walked in. "Since you're going to be missing classes for the preparation, it is mandatory for all students."

"Who are we even putting the play on for?" Cassie demanded. "Usually these things are watched by the other students."

"All of your families were invited, plus some of our friends will be coming," Nami replied. "Zyra, Starlight and Eclipse are sticking around until it's over."

"Will Kai be coming?" Marie asked, her voice sounding more excited than normal.

"She should be," Nami replied.

The girls watched in bemusement as Marie grinned to herself.

"Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that you all know, that from now until the end of the play Faith and I own all of you," Faye said.

"This isn't fair," Cassie complained.

"If you're nice to us, maybe we'll give you something easy to do," Faye said.

"I don't want to act," Shion said quietly.

"Don't worry, we'll only pick on the people who deserve it," Faye assured, her gaze lingering on Marie.

"Nami! This can't be allowed!" Marie exclaimed.

"Says the girl with the literal folder of blackmail," Ri mused.

"Shut up Ri!" Marie yelled.

"This is between students, I can't get involved," Nami said, quickly ducking into her room and locking the door behind her.

"She just ran away," Katie said in surprise.

"Don't worry guys, I'm sure this won't be that bad," Ash assured. "Faye and Leo are reasonable." She clearly omitted Faith's name in the list.

"This is going to be terrible," Cassie complained.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the boy's dorm, the news was being broken to them. "We get to play in a play?" Hibi asked.

"How much will I be paid for this?" Darn wondered.

"Yes and nothing," Leo replied.

"We _have_ to be in this?" Silas asked with clear distaste.

"You don't all have to act but everyone has to contribute," Leo replied. "And the art class decides how exactly you do that."

"There's only three of you in that class," Zair said. Leo nodded. "You three decide everything?"

"That right," Leo confirmed.

"I-I really don't want to be on stage," Colin said nervously.

"Don't worry, we're fair. We'll only give you horrible jobs if you do something to deserve it," Leo replied with a friendly grin.

"He looks nice, but that sounded like a threat," James mused.

"Can we spar for our roles?" Equinox wondered.

"Uh, no. Probably not, we haven't decided anything yet though so I suppose I can't rule it out," Leo replied.

"As long as I don't have to do much," Zair said.

"I think it sounds fun!" Sunny enthused.

"It really doesn't," Silas corrected.

"Where is Tael?" Darn wondered, looking around. "He has to be in it too right?"

"He refused to come to the meeting," Hunter replied.

"And yes, he does have to be in it," Leo added. "We'll be sure to give him a…good task." He gave everyone a bright grin.

"Don't make him too mad, he'll definitely retaliate," James warned. Leo waved off the concern.

"So now that all that news is out of the way, anyone want to play Mario Kart?" Sunny asked.

"NO!" was the emphatic reply.

"Just a suggestion," Sunny said happily.

* * *

The next day, there was a meeting during breakfast. "Hello everyone!" Mira greeted. "I'm sure you've all heard by now, but we're going to be putting on a school play. The art class will be in charge."

"I'd like to abstain," Cassie requested.

"Denied," Pecha replied.

"Why do we have to do this?" Marie asked.

"Unity and togetherness," Wolf replied. "All of you students, some Pokésouls, some not, some from the city some from the Outerlands. All working together!"

"You just want a break from teaching," Zair accused.

"That too," Christopher admitted easily.

"We're inviting your families and some of our friends and other people from the city to come and watch," Pecha informed.

"This is going to be so embarrassing," Marie moaned, burying her face in her hands.

"This is going to be so much fun," Faye said, a wide grin on her face.

"Do we know what play we're going to do yet?" Darn asked.

"We haven't decided yet," Mira replied. "We'll be deciding tomorrow. Then we'll start assigning everyone's roles."

"Are any of you going to be in it?" Mari asked.

"No way," Christopher instantly replied.

"We have other things to do," Pecha said evasively.

"So you'll subject us to this torture but won't do it yourselves," Cassie accused.

"When you run a school you can boss students around too," Wolf replied cheerfully.

"I think it all sounds fun anyway," Mari said with a bright laugh.


	19. This School is a Sham

**Author's Note:  
**

 **Thanks for all the reviews you guys! You're support means a lot to me :)**

* * *

Chapter 17: This School is a Sham

* * *

"So, what play should we do?" Mira asked.

"We should make one up," Faye suggested.

"That'll be too much work," Leo replied. "We should do one everyone already knows."

"A romance?" Faye asked excitedly. "Cinderella or something?"

"How about Romeo and Juliet?" Leo replied.

"But that's so boring and overdone," Faye sighed. "Can we at least modify it?" She looked to Mira.

"You're in charge," Mira replied. "Whatever you want to do."

"Alright! This will be fun then!" Faye exclaimed. "So there are two groups who hate each other, but Romeo and Juliet fall in love anyway and everyone dies right?"

"That's…not how I would have summarized it, but I guess it's close enough," Mira replied.

"So instead of whatever lame differences they had how about we make one family be Pokésouls and the others be normal," Faye suggested.

"But almost all of us are Pokésouls," Leo replied.

"The non-Pokésouls can be played by Pokésouls," Faye pointed out.

"Good point," Leo admitted.

"Really, the main question is, who should play Romeo and Juliet?" Faye said.

"Let's pick Juliet first," Leo said.

"Alright, who's the prettiest?" Faye wondered.

Leo thought about this for a few moments. "Silas," he finally said.

"Silas?" Faye said in surprise. "Actually. Yeah, he is the prettiest isn't he?" She looked perturbed. "Colin and Gabriel are both really pretty too. Why are there so many pretty boys here!?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know," Leo replied. "We should probably give the part to a girl though. Or at least not Silas. I have to live with him and if we cast him as a girl I'll probably have to move."

Faye laughed. "Alright, we should leave Katie, Mayday, Shion, and Cerise out too," Faye replied. "We could put them in a different part, but it would be better for them not to have a leading role."

"So that leaves Mari, Marie, Ri, Ash, Cassie and you?" Leo said. "I assume Faith is not going to be acting."

Faith gave him an unreadable look, Leo took it as an affirmative.

"Are we going to funny or serious?" Leo asked. "Because if we want the play to be good we probably shouldn't cast Cassie or Marie."

"You think Ri is any good?" Faye wondered. "She's so weird and overly talkative."

"No idea," Leo replied. "Hey, are there any witch parts in Romeo and Juliet? Or we could make Juliet a witch. Then we wouldn't have to get a costume for Mari."

"She should be an evil witch who's in love with Romeo and is standing in the way of Romeo and Juliet's love," Faye decided. The art students continued in their discussion of creating a great (in their opinion) play. One thing was for sure, everyone would remember it.

* * *

Faye returned to the girls' dorm and called a meeting. Mayday was suspiciously absent. "Alright everyone! Those of you want to act, raise your hands," Faye asked.

Mari jumped up with her hand raised. "Me!" she cried.

Ri raised her hand as well. Ash raised her half way. "I don't really care," she said. "I'll act if you want me to."

"Everyone will act if we want them too," Faye said with a cackle.

"Then why are you asking?" Cassie asked.

"So I know what you want to do and can take that into account," Faye replied.

"Right…and you'll definitely be nice about it," Marie muttered.

"Well, some of you are going to have to act, we need more than three girls. Probably. I mean, we haven't actually decided on all the roles yet, but we'll figure it out," Faye said.

"This play is going to be a disaster," Marie sighed.

"I think it sounds fun to me!" Mari exclaimed.

"You like disasters," Marie accused.

"I agree with Marie. This play is going to be a complete disaster and I want no part in it," Cassie stated.

"Too bad!" Faye said in a sing-song voice. "You have no choice."

Faith jabbed Faye in the side making the older girl flinch and look at her. "What?" Faye demanded. Faith showed Faye a piece of paper with the word 'Mayday?' written on it. "I don't know where she is," Faye replied.

"She ran away when she heard about the meeting," Shion informed.

"That's what I should have done," Cassie muttered.

"We'll just have to make sure Mayday gets a really _good_ part in the play," Faye said with a cackle. Faith smiled in a way that reminded Marie way too much of the girl's Banette.

 _Don't make them mad,_ Barrett suggested.

 _Good idea,_ Marie replied.

"Do you know what play we're doing yet?" Ri wondered.

"Romeo and Juliet," Faye announced. "But with a couple changes. Well, more than a couple. Well, it's Romeo and Julie in spirit."

"Romeo and Juliet?" Cassie said flatly.

"It'll be fun!" Faye enthused.

"For you I'm sure it will be," Marie muttered.

"Do we get a choice on if our families are invited?" Ash wondered. "Or have they already sent out the invitations?"

"I don't know," Faye replied. "We could ask Nami when she comes back." As if summoned, the science teacher entered. "Nami!" Faye exclaimed.

"Hello," Nami said, clearly not expecting to have everyone stare at her when she came in.

"We were wondering if we get to decide who to invite to the play," Marie explained.

"Your families were already invited," Nami replied. "We meant to give you a choice, but Wyvrn thought it would be too much trouble and sent them all."

"So I'll get to meet everyone's families," Marie said with interest.

"I wonder what sort of parents made you how you are," Ri wondered, staring at Marie.

"I want to know the same thing," Marie grumbled.

"Too bad, my parents aren't coming," Ri replied.

"What? Why not?" Marie demanded.

"We don't have their names on her entry form," Nami said. "Actually a lot of the forms we got were pretty vague."

"And you accepted them anyway?" Cassie asked.

Nami shrugged. "We needed students."

"This school is a sham," Cassie muttered.

"We haven't gotten responses from anyone yet, but when we do we'll let you know," Nami assured.

* * *

In the forest, Mayday and Gladius were hiding out. Gladius lounged on the ground as Mayday sat in a tree, idly watching the leaves of the forest sway in the breeze. _I'm not taking part in that play,_ Mayday announced.

 _They'll have to go through me to make you,_ Gladius assured. The two lapsed into companionable silence. That silence was broken by the sound of twigs and leaves crunching under someone's shoes. Mayday tensed, expecting one of the other students come to drag her back to the school.

The person who appeared was not at all who Mayday was expecting. A boy appeared before Gladius, a Sliggoo at his side. He wore a long sleeved red shirt, the end of the left sleeve dangling in the wind as his right arm was in fact, his _only_ arm. Above the shirt was a black shirt with a stylized white pentagram on the chest. He wore grey pants with a cord hanging out of the pocket. The cord went up to the black and silver headphones that were draped around his neck. On his feet were black boots.

"Who are you?" Mayday demanded.

The boy looked up at her and grinned. "I'm Tory!" he said. "Hey, do you know where the Pokésoul academy is?"

"Why do you want to know?" Mayday asked suspiciously. Gladius slowly rose to his feet in case the boy attacked.

"I'm a student there!" Tory announced.

"No you're not," Mayday refuted.

"I know I'm super late! We just got a bit lost," Tory admitted with a laugh.

Mayday and Gladius exchanged baffled looks. Not sure what else to do, Mayday jumped down from the tree and led the boy to the academy.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Tory – PokeSpeBanette**

 **Also thanks to Animewovles for suggesting Romeo and Juliet!**


	20. Art? NO!

**Author's Note:**

 **Happy Valentine's Day/Single's Awareness day everyone! This isn't a special chapter or anything, I totally forgot about Valentines until just now. Thanks, as always, for the reviews! I love you guys :D**

* * *

Chapter 18: Art? NO!

* * *

Mayday returned to the Academy with Tory in tow. She walked into the girls' dorm to greet Nami. "Nami. I found this guy," she said upon seeing the teacher.

"Hello Mayday. Uh, who is this?" Nami asked. Mayday was going to answer when she looked at Faye who was staring at her with a predatory expression on her face. Abruptly realizing she'd made a huge mistake, Mayday turned and sprinted past Tory.

"Where are you going?" Tory wondered. He was pushed aside as Faye pursued Mayday. Faith's Banette and, for some reason, Barrett joined her. "What are they doing?"

"It's a school play," Marie explained. "Mayday is trying to escape it."

"Excuse me, who are you?" Nami asked the boy.

"Toriel Lithium," the boy announced. "Call me Tory though. This is Ink." He gestured to the Sliggoo at his side.

"Toriel Lithium…" Nami repeated. "Oh! We did get an application from you. You never showed up though so we though you changed your mind."

"I just got a bit lost," Tory replied with a bright laugh.

"How in the world were you lost for that long?" Marie wondered.

Cerise was staring at his dangling left sleeve in shock. He noticed her gaze and looked at her. "What?" he asked.

"I-I nothing!" she squeaked.

"It's my arm isn't it?" he asked, his face taking on a somber expression. "You think it's creepy don't you? That it's missing?" He stared at the floor, his face twitching slightly.

"No! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to stare!" Cerise exclaimed, she was clearly panicking.

Tory's sad expression suddenly broke and the boy started laughing. "Your face!" he laughed. "Don't worry about it. I was just messing with you!"

Cerise looked close to passing out from a mixture of embarrassment, shock and relief. "I'm going to take her upstairs," Cassie said. "Come on Cerise." Cassie grabbed the purple-haired girl by the arm and dragged her away. The younger girl followed in a confused daze.

"So you're Tory huh?" Ri asked, leaning over the back of the couch she was sitting on to look at him. "What elective did you choose?"

"Art," Tory replied.

"Art? NO!" Marie yelled.

Tory gave her a confused look. "You don't like art?" he asked.

Ri laughed. "The art class is in charge of the school play," Ri explained. "Which means you now get to help plan it. I believe Marie is objecting to this."

"He just got here! He can't be a part of the play!" Marie exclaimed.

"Why not?" Mari asked. "He seems cool." She grinned at him.

"I am cool," Tory agreed. "Nice outfit. It looks like something out of PokéWitch," he added.

Mari's face lit up and her eyes grew wide. "You watch PokéWitch?" she asked in awe.

"Of course!" Tory replied.

"Yay! We should watch it together!" Mari suggested.

Before the two could get even more carried away, Nami coughed loudly. "We still have to introduce Tory to the others," Nami said when she had their attention.

"And to us," Ri pointed out. "We haven't actually told him any of our names."

"Oh, right," Mari agreed. "Well new best friend, I am the great Marisa! You may call me Mari though. This is Marie and Ri. The three of us together form the mighty Mariririe!"

"I'm still not a part of that," Marie grumbled.

"I'm Ash. It's nice to meet you," Ash greeted politely. "The two who left earlier were Cerise and Cassie."

"Cerise was the tiny, shy one," Mari added.

"This is Katie," Ash said, gesturing to the other girl who smiled and waved shyly at him.

"Faye is the one who ran out after Mayday," Ri informed.

"I wonder if she caught up to her," Ash mused.

"Normally I'd bet on Mayday, but Faye seemed really determined," Marie replied.

"This is Faith," Ash said, pointing at the silent girl who stared at Tory. "She doesn't talk."

"Not _can't,_ " Ri emphasized. " _Doesn't_."

"And that's Shion," Ash finished. "That's all the girls."

"Nice to meet all of you," Tory replied.

"Now that you're all acquainted, I'll take you to see Pecha," Nami said. "Come on."

"Alright," Tory agreed easily. "See you guys later!"

Everyone was settling down when the door was thrown open again. Faye appeared with Mayday tied up and being dragged by Barrett. "I got her!" Faye announced. Her hair was a mess and there was a mess of dirt and leaves stuck to her clothes. "I need to take a shower. Don't let her get away." Barrett sent her a salute.

"Why are you helping?" Marie wondered aloud. Barrett grinned at her and Marie groaned.

"What did he say?" Ri wondered.

"He said 'Anything for the play,'" Marie muttered. "Traitor."

* * *

Tory and Ink followed after Nami as the woman led them out of the girls' dorm and towards Pecha's office above the cafeteria. As they walked through Tory looked around at the buildings. _What does it look like?_ Ink wondered.

 _Like buildings,_ Tory replied. Ink was blind, like all Sliggoo, but was able to use her horns as a radar to sense things around her. It didn't, however, tell her what they actually _looked_ like. _You're not missing much by not being able to see this place,_ Tory assured. _Some of the people were pretty funny looking though._

Nami opened the door to the cafeteria and let them inside. "Pecha's office is above here," Nami explained. She led them upstairs to find Pecha face down on her desk. "Pecha?" Nami asked.

"What?" came the mumbled voice of the other woman.

"We have a new student," Nami replied.

"Hi there!" Tory said as Pecha lifted her head up to look at him skeptically.

"New student? What are you talking about? Who are you?" Pecha studied him, as did the Luxray sitting beside her desk.

"I'm Toriel Lithium. This is Ink," Tory explained. "We got a bit lost getting here."

"Oh! I think I do remember an application from you," Pecha exclaimed. She opened a drawer and dumped a bunch of papers on her desk. As she began flipping through them Tory looked over some of the discarded ones curiously.

They appeared to be the student's applications. He saw a few of the girl's he'd seen earlier, one in particular standing out because of all the exclamation points and capital letters. He wasn't particularly surprised to see the name on it was Marisa.

"Here it is!" Pecha exclaimed. She quickly shoved all the others into a drawer and dropped Tory's onto the desk.

"Yep, that's the one," Tory replied. He hadn't bothered to write much on it, something he wasn't alone on judging by the quick look he'd gotten at the other student's applications.

"Well, I guess you can stay here then," Pecha said with a shrug.

"Is that really okay?" Nami wondered.

"We're already letting the thief stay," Pecha pointed out.

"Right," Nami remembered.

"Thief?" Tory asked.

"His name's Tael," Pecha replied. "You're thirteen, so you'll be in his class."

"He sounds interesting," Tory said.

"He's kind of annoying," Pecha said.

"Pecha, don't say things like that about the students," Nami chided.

"But he is," Pecha protested. "Anyway," Pecha waved away the topic. "We need to assign you to a room. We have Tael sleeping in the gym, but I'd rather not put you with him."

"The boys' dorm is a bit short on space," Nami mused. "He could stay with Lance…?"

"Nah, bad idea," Pecha said.

"Yeah," Nami agreed.

"Why?" Tory wondered.

The two teachers exchanged looks and both quickly said, "No reason."

"We'll just put him in the empty room in the boys' dorm," Pecha decided.

"I thought all the rooms were full," Nami said.

"They were, but we need another one so one magically appeared," Pecha replied. "The author didn't think it through well enough and needs more space."

"Right. Of course," Nami agreed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for breaking the fourth wall at the end haha… I need for there to be more rooms so please just go with it (Hopeful smile)**


	21. This is a Dictatorship Now

**Author's Note:**

 **I'm sorry this is so late. I don't even have a good excuse, I was just spending all my free time playing Fire Emblem. Sorry about the wait!**

* * *

Chapter 19: This is a Dictatorship Now

* * *

Tory finished his meeting with Pecha and was showed to the boys' dorm by Nami. He thanked her and went inside. After a bit of wandering around, he found several boys sitting together in one of the rooms. "Hi there," he said and took a seat as if he belonged here.

"Hi," one of the other boys replied absently.

"You're late to the meeting," a boy with blue hair accused.

"Wait…who are you?" this question was from a guy sitting with a Braviary.

"That's…you're right we've never seen this guy before have we?" The boys all abruptly realized that none of them knew Tory, who grinned at how long it had taken them to realize this.

"Intruder!" one of the boys yelled. He jumped out of his chair and pointed at Tory.

"I'm a student here," Tory replied. "You really haven't noticed me?" he put on a sad face at this.

"No, you are not," the blue haired boy stated.

An older guy was apparently drawn by the commotion as he came in growing, "What are you all yelling about?"

"Christopher! There's an intruder!" announced one of the younger boys.

Christopher turned to look at Tory, who grinned at him. "That's the new student. Nothing to be yelling about," Christopher said. This said, he turned around and went back downstairs.

"So you're a new student?"

"That I am," Tory replied. "Toriel Lithium, but please call me Tory. This is Ink."

"Right, well I'm Leo," the blue haired boy said. "Silas there is my roommate." Tory looked at the very pretty person Leo pointed to. "I assure you, he is a boy."

"Of course I'm a guy!" Silas growled. "I'm not that girly looking!"

"There are actually several girly looking guys here," Tory noted. He looked pointedly at one who was quickly writing something in a notebook.

Seemingly sensing eyes on him, the boy looked up. "I don't like a girl," he said, irritation in his voice. "I'm Gabriel." His expression changed to interest as he gazed at Ink. "Does Ink use your eyes to see things?" he asked. "Do you have trouble seeing being linked to a blind partner? Does –"

"Gabriel, he just got here. Leave the weird questions for later," one of the other boys said. "I'm James." James then introduced the rest of the boys. "That's everyone except for Tael."

"And explaining where he is would be a rather long Tael," Hibi said with a grin.

"He like puns," Sunny explained.

"He's a pun master," Darn added.

"Tael's the one who lives in the gym?" Tory asked. "Pecha and Nami mentioned something about him being a thief."

"Yep, he tried to rob the girls' dorm," Darn informed.

"He failed," Sunny added.

"Oh, and we should tell you, we have a play coming up soon," James said.

"I'm in charge!" Leo announced.

"The girls were talking about that. They said that since I'm in the art class I'd get to help with it," Tory said.

"You're in the art class?" Leo asked. "Me too! Nice to meet you. Right now there's only three members and one of them doesn't talk."

"Hey, new guy, you're nice right? You won't make any of us…do anything awful will you?" Silas asked hopefully.

"He's just worried they're going to give him a girl's part," James loudly whispered.

"That's not it," Silas replied, not very convincingly. "And I really don't look that much like a girl."

"Yes you do," Gabriel said.

"You're one to talk," Equinox mused. "You're just as feminine looking as he is."

"I don't look like a girl," Gabriel growled.

"You two should be friends," Darn said. "The 'I don't look like a girl' friends. Maybe Lance and Colin should be in that group too."

"Lance is too cool to be in that group," James replied.

Lance looked oddly touched by this. "Thanks," Lance said. Internally the faux-boy was thankful for all the pretty boys in the school. It made masquerading as a boy much easier for her to pull off.

* * *

"Alright everyone," Faye said as she addressed the girls. Mayday was tied to a chair and looking mutinous. "I don't want to do this, but I have no choice. I have to make an example of someone so that you know what happens to those who try to escape." She turned on Mayday. "Mayday, for your crime of trying to evade the school play, you are now playing the role of Juliet's girly girl sister. You will have to wear a lot of frilly dresses and pink."

"Um… I'm not very familiar with classic literature, but I don't think Juliet had a girly girl sister," Ri said.

"Well I haven't read it either so we're making up everything," Faye replied. "If I say she has a sister, then she does!"

"So…we're not really doing Romeo and Juliet," Marie concluded.

"Marie! You are this close to being my next example," Faye said. Marie quickly looked down at the floor and quieted.

"This is a dictatorship now huh?" Mari asked. She didn't sound particularly bothered by this, it was simply an observation.

"At least one of you gets it," Faye said, pleased.

"You know that everyone is just going to bottle up all their hatred for you and it will explode once this is over, right?" Ash asked.

"Whatever," Faye said with a shrug. "I'm going to enjoy my power while I have it."

Ash sighed as she watched Faye laugh a bit maniacally, only looking down when she felt something poking her hand. Cassie was handing her a note. Surprised, Ash took it, careful to keep it out of Faye's view, which was easy as she'd turned around to talk to Faith.

Cassie's message was short, it simply read, _Let's revolt._

* * *

Later that night, after Faye and Katie had gone to bed there was a meeting in Cassie's room. The attendants: Cassie, Cerise, Ash, Marie and Ri. Marie glared at Ri. "You're not a spy are you?"

"Of course not!" Ri said, her eyes widening in false innocence.

"I don't trust you," Marie grumbled. "Why was she invited?"

"Because there was no way you'd come without Ri finding out," Ash said. "Might as well just involve her in the beginning."

"Fine," Marie sighed. "So what are we doing anyway?"

"Faye is out of control. She needs to be stopped," Cassie declared.

"How? The teachers are on her side," Marie pointed out.

"We can work together to figure something out," Cassie said.

"It might be better to just work together to make the play not a complete disaster," Ash suggested. "Nothing we can do will stop it. I mean, they already invited our parents, but we can try to make it not so bad."

Cassie looked unhappy, but nodded anyway. "Fine. As long as I'm not onstage."

"Are we all agreed?" Ash looked around at the other girls who all nodded, even Cerise though she looked completely terrified.

"We should get some of the guys to help too," Marie suggested. "If we attack them on two fronts we'll have a better chance of making this work."

"Good idea," Ash agreed.

"I'm not familiar with many of them, who do we get to join us?" Cassie asked.

"Hunter seems pretty normal," Ash mused. "Zair will be too lazy to help."

"Silas will probably help us if we can promise he won't have to play a girl's part," Ri said.

"What about Darn or Hibi?" Cerise asked.

"I think they might be into the play," Marie said. "I'm not sure I trust them with this."

"They're loyal," Cerise defended.

"I didn't say they weren't," Marie replied.

"You kind of implied it though," Ri countered.

"Shut up," Marie yelled.

"Quiet," Cassie hissed. "Do you want Faye to find out about this?"

"No, sorry," Marie muttered, though she continued to glare at Ri.

"I think we should start with Hunter and maybe Colin and get their opinions about who we should approach," Ash said. "They'll have a better idea of which of the boys will be likely to join us."

"Alright," Cassie said. "We'll talk to them tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow," Ash agreed with a nod.

The girls stood, about to leave when Cerise stopped them. "Um…" she said. "Should we save Mayday?"

"Nah, she should have known better than to come back," Ri replied flippantly.

"I don't think there's anything we can do for her without drawing Faye's wrath onto ourselves," Ash said apologetically.

"It's not like wearing a frilly pink dress will kill her anyway," Marie assured.

Marie, Ri and Ash left the room. Ri and Marie headed for their room and were surprised to find Ash follow them in. "What's up?" Ri asked. She sat down on her bed, pushing Clef out of the way as the Clefairy had passed out in the middle of the bed.

"Well, I'm worried about Barrett," Ash said looked at the Roserade who was in the window. "He seemed into the play earlier."

"Don't worry about Barrett," Marie assured. "It may not seem like it, but he's always got my back." The Roserade, who apparently _wasn't_ asleep, turned around to grin at Ash.

"Sorry for doubting you," Ash apologized to the Pokémon.

"He says its fine," Marie said.

"You know I'd be more worried about Clef," Ri mused. "She's kind of…airheaded."

"Unlike you?" Marie wondered.

"I'm much smarter than I look!" Ri assured with a fake grin. Ash had no doubt the assurance was true, though how smart the other girl actually _was_ , was up for debate.

"Alright. Well, I'd better go to bed now. See you tomorrow," Ash said. She returned to her room to find Mari already asleep.

 _Good meeting?_ Pixie asked.

 _Yeah. I think so,_ Ash replied. _If nothing else we're going to have some interesting days ahead._

 _Just let me know if you need anything,_ Pixie said.

 _I will,_ Ash assured with a fond smile.


	22. I have no Shame

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for the long wait again, I've been busy lately sigh... Thanks for your patience and support! I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Chapter 20: I Have no Shame

* * *

"Welcome to the class Tory," Mira said warmly at the start of the arts class. The new student was sitting next to Faye and grinned up at Mira.

"Thanks," he said. "We're working on the school play, right?"

"That's right," Mira agreed. "So have you already met Faye, Faith, and Leo?"

"We met him yesterday," Faye said.

"What all do I need to know?" Tory asked.

"Well, I have a band," Leo replied.

"He meant about the play," Faye said.

"You have a band?!" Tory asked excitedly. "Can I join?"

"Sure! You like music too?" Leo enthused. The two were leaning forward to talk around Faye, who leaned back a bit to feel less in the way.

"I love it!," Tory replied. "I play drums, guitar, piano and I sing."

"Really? That's impressive," Faye mused. "I just sing."

"We can do a duet sometime!" Tory said.

"I play guitar and piano," Leo informed.

Mira coughed quietly to draw their attention. "I'm glad you all are getting along, but we should be working on the play," she said.

"Sorry Mira," the three chorused.

"We still have a lot to work on with the play," Faye said. "We're doing Romeo and Juliet, but other than that we don't have much decided yet. Mayday is playing Juliet's sister though."

"Juliet has a sister?" Leo wondered.

"Well, I didn't want to make Mayday Juliet because I thought she'd ruin the whole thing, but I had to punish her somehow," Faye replied.

"So who is going to be Juliet?" Tory asked. The room was silent as the three, (and possibly Faith but Faye had no idea if she was paying attention or not) pondered the questions.

"Hey guys," a voice said, breaking them out of their reverie. It came from the window, where they found Ri who was leaning in from the outside, smiling at them.

"What are you doing here?" Faye demanded.

"I just thought I'd let you know that there's a conspiracy out there. They want to overthrow the dictatorship," Ri replied.

"Dictatorship?" Leo wondered.

Faye laughed loudly to cover Ri's response to that. "So who all's in it?" Faye asked.

"You can't expect me to just tell you that," Ri said, an innocent smile on her face.

"Why is there a conspiracy?" Tory wondered. "Conspiracy against what?"

"Faye's a dictator," Ri said.

"Tell me their names!" Faye yelled, grabbing Ri's arm. Ri didn't seem at all disturbed by this. "Tell me or I'll give you an awful part!"

Ri laughed at this. "I have no shame!" She exclaimed. "Give me whatever part you want!"

"Why are you here if you're not going to tell us anything?" Leo wondered.

"I already did tell you something," Ri replied. "Later!" She tugged her arm out of Faye's grip and disappeared.

"Ri!" Faye yelled, though it was directed towards the ceiling rather than at the girl herself.

"Does it matter?" Leo wondered. "They still have to participate, conspiracy or not."

"This isn't about the play," Faye replied. "This is about our pride."

Faith lifted up her sketchbook and the words 'They should be punished' were written on it.

"She learns violent words more easily than real ones huh?" Leo mused.

"Well, Wyvrn is the one teaching her," Faye pointed out.

"So what part are we giving Ri?" Tory asked.

"I don't know," Faye grumbled. "She's so happy all the time I don't know how to annoy her." As Faye considered their next move, she watched Faith's Banette vanish into one of the walls. "I bet Marie had something to do with the conspiracy," Faye mused. "Let's make her Juliet."

"Marie as Juliet?" Leo said. "I thought you didn't want the play to be awful."

"It's going to be awful no matter what we do," Faye said with a dismissive wave. "But Marie's less likely to attack the audience than Mayday is."

"Well, Ink says Faith's Banette says that Marie is a part of the conspiracy," Tory informed, patting his Sliggoo on the head. Faye noticed Banette had returned and was floating around with a smirk on his face.

"Looks like we have our Juliet then," Faye said, her smile looking unnervingly like Banette's.

Mira sat at her desk and pretended not to see any of the disaster happening. It would turn out alright. Probably. Maybe.

* * *

At the start of the technology class, Ash and Marie shared a look. "Sorry Christopher! We're taking this class over," Ash said.

Christopher didn't seem particularly bothered by this. "If anyone asks I put up a fight," he said, before pulling out a book and taking a seat in the back.

"What's going on?" Shion asked, looking completely confused.

"We don't have much time," Marie said. "Barrett! The windows!" The Roserade nodded and quickly shut the windows with his vines. Colin had an alarmed expression on his face and from the look he was giving the door Ash assumed he was thinking about escaping. Roland seemed completely unconcerned, a serene smile on his face while Equinox seemed confused, but not bothered.

"Is this something to do with the play?" Equinox wondered.

"It is," Marie said. "Faye, I mean, the arts class has to be stopped."

"Mayday agrees," Shion said. "She was very upset yesterday."

"What happened to Mayday?" Colin wondered, his gaze leaving the door, but the tenseness in his posture remaining.

"Faye captured her and is forcing her to play Juliet's girly girl sister," Marie replied.

"Juliet has a sister?" Equinox wondered.

"Apparently she does now," Ash said. "A few of us have gathered to talk about putting a stop to this, and we'd like your help."

"Why are we talking about this now?" Equinox wondered.

"And why us?" Colin asked.

"We thought it over and realized there wasn't a good way to talk to you without Leo or Tory hearing us," Ash explained.

"That means we have to talk during the only time we know the art kids are busy, which is now," Marie said. "We happen to be in this class, so you guys are our choice."

Roland nodded to himself. "I didn't think you would purposely choose me," he said. "I'm not good at undercover work."

"I'm not either!" Colin exclaimed, panicked.

"What about the people in the magic classes and free period?" Equinox wondered. "Aren't any of the other girls in on this?"

"They are, but Darn and Hibi are in the magic class," Ash said. "They seem to be having fun with the whole play thing, so I don't think they're ideal recruits.

"Ri has a free period, but she can't be trusted," Marie said, a dark look on her face.

"Mayday has a free period too," Shion pointed out.

"Yeah, but she's being watched," Ash replied.

"I think you might be too," Equinox said, gesturing to the wall behind them. Ash turned around in confusion to see a Banette disappearing through the wall behind her.

"Banette!" Marie yelled. "I forgot about Faith!" She muttered increasingly dark and angry things under her breath. Barrett, in contrast seemed completely unconcerned and was even laughing.

Are they really partners? Ash wondered.

Not everyone can be as good a team as us, Pixie said sagely.

"How much do you think it heard?" Marie asked, once she was done fuming.

"I'm not sure when it came in," Equinox said with a shrug.

"Are we going to get in trouble for this?" Shion wondered. "I don't want to be on stage."

"I imagine Marie and I will suffer the most for this," Ash replied.

"Then after this stupid play is over, Faye will be the one to suffer," Marie said darkly.

Remind me not to make her mad, Ash said to Pixie.

Yeah, I think having her as an enemy would be bad, Pixie agreed.

"So…are you guys done now?" Christopher asked when it had been silent for several moments. "I have more stuff to teach you."

"Oh! Right, uh I guess we're done," Ash said. "Unless any of you have ideas?"

Shion and Colin both shook their heads apologetically. "Nope," Roland replied cheerfully.

"Sorry, I don't have any ideas either," Equinox said.

* * *

Ri, after having caused some chaos, walked around outside with Clef feeling particularly happy with herself. Things were just so much more fun with drama. "You look happy," someone remarked.

Ri looked towards the voice to find Lance. "Hi Lance," Ri greeted. "I'm having a nice day."

"That's good," Lance said, though he looked somewhat dubious.

"I'm having a terrible day," Mayday complained, showing up next to them with an Oshawott following her.

"Is that…?" Ri began.

"Leo's Oshawott," Mayday confirmed. "He's following me so I don't escape."

"Escape from what?" Hunter asked, walking over with Jean Luc.

"The play," Mayday replied.

"Mayday tried to run away, but she got caught and now she has to play Juliet's girly girl sister," Ri explained.

"I never should have come back," Mayday muttered.

"Probably not," Ri agreed. Mayday glared at her.

"I really don't want to be in the play," Jean Luc sighed.

"I don't think they'll make you," Hunter said reassuringly.

"He's right," Ri agreed. "They're only being ridiculously mean to the people who try to defy them. Just don't get in their way and you'll be fine."

"If you do run away, never stop," Mayday advised. Jean Luc stared at the girl with frightened eyes and nodded.

"How is one Oshawott keeping you contained?" Gabriel asked. Ri, along with everyone else, looked around, but didn't see Gabriel.

"That was Gabriel's voice right, I'm not insane?" Lance asked uncertainly.

"I heard it too," Jean Luc said.

"Up here," Gabriel said. The students looked up as one and saw Gabriel sitting in a tree with his notebook out.

"How did you get up there?" Hunter wondered, staring at the other boy in confusion.

"I climbed," the other boy replied. At the looks of disbelief, he stared back blankly.

"Why?" Lance finally asked.

"Why not?" Gabriel replied. "So, Mayday?"

Mayday looked at him uncomprehendingly, then seemed to remember his earlier question. "The Oshawott's not here to stop me. He's here to tell everyone that I'm leaving, then they'll come and stop me."

"Ah," Gabriel said with a nod, jotting something down in his book. He didn't appear malicious and didn't seem to do anything out of bad intentions, but Ri found the boy unsettling. At least Ri could read Marie's notes, Ri had no idea what Gabriel had written in that notebook of his.

"I guess if you tried to escape again they'd make your punishment worse, huh?" Lance surmised. Mayday nodded.

"If I try it get away again, I have to succeed,"Mayday said.

"Well, good luck with that," Ri replied.

"I don't like what the play is doing to this school," Jean Luc sighed.

"None of us do," Hunter assured.

"Faye does," Ri corrected.

"I think Tory is enjoying it too," Lance mused. "Even though he just got here."

Leo's Oshawott suddenly burst out into giggles and pointed at the group. "Is he literally pointing and laughing at us?" Hunter asked.

"He seems to be," Ri agreed easily.

"I'm going back to the dorm," Jean Luc decided.

"I'll go with you," Hunter said.

"Me too!" Lance added, hurrying after them.

This left Ri and Mayday who looked at each other. "I'm going to go run around," Mayday said. "Maybe I can tire this stupid Oshawott out." She dashed off, followed by Oshawott who had an insulted expression on its face.

"Everyone left," Gabriel sighed. Ri jumped slightly, having completely forgotten the boy was around.

He is way too quiet, Ri noted.

So are you, Clef replied absently.

You're supposed to be on my side, Ri sighed. "Yes they did," Ri said to Gabriel before walking off herself.


	23. Trees Don't Talk

Chapter 21: Trees Don't Talk

* * *

It was late at night after classes and the teachers were gathered in the cafeteria, relaxing. Pecha, Nami, Mira, Christopher and Wolf were present, as well as their Pokémon partners.

"The play is going to be a disaster," Mira moaned.

"I thought that was the whole point," Wolf said.

"It's even worse than I thought it would be," Mira replied.

"Who cares? It's not like we have to act in it," Christopher commented.

"It still reflects on us and how our school is doing," Mira said.

"Everyone thinks we're going to fail anyway, I don't think a bad play or a good play is really going to change anyone's minds," Wolf said with a shrug.

"Don't worry about it so much," Pecha suggested. "If it goes completely wrong I'll take responsibility. And then I can say I just don't know any plays since I didn't really go to school."

"I was never in any of the plays at my school," Nami said. "I did see some though."

"I was in a play. I was a tree," Wolf commented.

"A tree?" Mira asked.

Wolf nodded. "I stood in the back and nodded wisely."

"Did you say anything?" Christopher wondered.

"Trees don't talk," Wolf replied.

All of a sudden, the doors slammed open and a female voice shouted, "We have arrived!"

Silvia jumped forwards and took up a defensive position quickly followed by Wolf who stood at her side, wielding a large spoon.

"What's happening?" Nami asked, sounding dazed.

"Kai?" Pecha said, her voice full of shock. Indeed, it was the informant standing at the door, a wide grin on her face.

"Surprise!" Kai exclaimed. Wolf dropped the spoon and sat back down with a huff.

"Don't freak us out like that," he complained.

"I think I forgot how to breathe for a moment there," Nami said.

"Sorry Nami." This voice was from behind Kai and was distinctly male.

"Blake?" Nami replied. "You're here too?"

"So's Liliana," Kai added as she swept into the room. Blake and Liliana followed her in.

"So, not that it isn't great to see you guys, but what are you doing here?" Pecha asked.

"We're here to see the play," Kai replied.

"That's not happening for a few more weeks," Nami said.

"We came early," Kai said. "I was excited!"

"She ambushed me yesterday morning and I was too tired to understand what was happening," Blake explained.

"Then Kai ambushed me this morning and I ended up coming with them," Liliana added.

"So, how's the play coming?" Kai asked excitedly.

"Great!" Mira replied instantly. The other teachers turned to stare at her in shock.

"…Great?" Nami asked.

"Well…it'll be memorable," Mira said defensively.

"It's going to be a disaster," Pecha corrected. "I'll probably be fired."

" _Can_ you be fired? The school is your creation," Nami mused.

"That means that if it fails _I'll_ be fired," Mira realized in horror.

"If Mira's fired, I quit," Wolf said.

"I'm not firing anyone," Pecha assured. "And really, if I was firing anyone here it would be Christopher."

"I'd deserve that," Christopher said agreeably.

"Not Wyvrn?" Kai asked. "It seems like he'd have it coming."

"I'm not brave enough to fire Wyvrn," Pecha said.

"He actually seems to be doing an okay job," Nami noted. "Strangely."

"I think he took it personally how everyone thought he'd suck," Wolf said. "So he's trying to actually do a good job."

"I can't believe you have him around kids," Kai laughed. "Maybe I'll sit in on one of his classes while I'm here."

"Don't distract anyone too much. Even if this school is poorly planned I have to have at least some semblance of order," Pecha warned.

"They won't even notice I'm there," Kai assured.

"That's impossible," Liliana retorted.

"You're really noticeable," Blake agreed.

"It'll be fine," Kai said.

"Speaking of noticeable, I thought Starlight, Eclipse, and Nysa-Eon were supposed to be here," Liliana said, looking around the group.

"They're staying in Eterna," Pecha explained. "They're going to be staying there until after the play though, so you'll see them."

"Is anyone else coming for the play?" Wolf wondered.

"Probably everyone," Kai said. "Kirtus and Christina are definitely coming later. I don't know about Preston though, he's a bit too important to just up and leave for things like this."

"Zyra will come anyway," Liliana said. "She just does whatever she wants. For some reason people love that."

"And Nevin will come with her of course," Wolf assumed.

"He always does," Mira agreed.

"Wow, look at all the people!" This was a new voice and the teachers belatedly realized Kai hadn't closed the doors behind her. At the door was a group of students, the one who commented being Ri. Standing beside Ri and looking faintly shell-shocked was Marie. Behind those two were Ash and Cassie. "So what's going on? Savior of the world meeting?" Ri asked.

"Aww, are these some of the students?" Kai asked. "They're so cute and small!"

Cassie looked extremely unimpressed at this comment.

"You're Kai, Blake and Liliana, right?" Ash asked. "It's so nice to meet all of you! I'm Ash."

"At least one of them is polite," Liliana muttered. "You guys are all nice to Katie, right?"

"Of course," Ash said. "She's a nice person."

"Good," Liliana replied.

"So what do you all want?" Pecha wondered.

"I'm just here to watch," Ri said and leaned back against the wall.

"We're here to lodge a complaint," Cassie said. Marie was staring at Kai with clear awe in her eyes. "Marie. Marie!" Marie ignored the calls.

"What complaint?" Wolf asked.

"Faye has gotten out of hand," Cassie replied. "She thinks she's the boss of all of us now."

"Well, she kind of is," Pecha said. "She's in charge of the play."

"She's so bossy," Cassie protested.

"She did say the school was a dictatorship at one point," Ri agreed.

"Why are you here anyway?" Cassie demanded. "You were probably the one who sold us out!"

"I was," Ri replied.

"What?" Marie asked, snapping out of her daze. "You told them?"

"I thought it would be fun to watch," Ri replied. "It's not like they wouldn't have found out anyway."

Ash sighed. "I came to try to keep this from getting out of hand. I failed."

"This is fun," Kai said, watching the students with interest. "I should visit more often!"

"Shouldn't you stop them?" Blake asked.

Pecha shrugged. "They're fine. Probably."

"It's best to let children solve their own disputes," Mira said.

"I just don't care," Christopher said.

"They're not killing each other, so it's not my problem!" Wolf added.

The squabble between Ri, Marie and Cassie finally ended, none of them seeming to be the victor. "Now that you've calmed down, what exactly was the complaint?" Pecha asked.

"Sorry about that Pecha," Marie apologized, seeming genuinely remorseful, unlike the other two. "Faye cast me as Juliet and I was hoping there might be something I could do to get her to cast someone else."

"Juliet's one of the main parts though right? Sounds fun," Kai said.

"Not under Faye's leadership," Marie replied.

"Sorry Marie, the play is student run, if I get involved it'll end up being run by the teachers," Pecha said.

Marie sighed. "That's okay. I figured it was a long shot anyway."

"You're going to be a great Juliet anyway," Ri assured, a bright grin on her face. Marie glared at her. "Yep, that's the right look there. Perfect for sweet, innocent Juliet."

"They should have cast you," Marie grumbled.

"Nah, I don't do romance scenes," Ri said.

"I wonder who's going to end up being Romeo," Ash mused. The four girls bid the teachers goodnight and wandered off.

"This place seems fun!" Kai said.

"It certainly seems eventful," Blake said.


End file.
